Mumbai: Veteran filmmaker Shyam Benegal, Neena Gupta and Manoj Bajpayee among others on Friday paid tributes to three-time National Award-winning actor Sukrekha Sikri and remembered her as one of the greatest talent of the entertainment industry. Sikri, known for her nuanced performance in Tamas, Mammo, Badhaai Ho, died following a cardiac arrest at a hospital in suburban Mumbai this morning. She was 75.
Benegal, who has worked with Sikri in Mammo, Sardari Begum and Zubeidaa, said it was a delight to see Sikri perform. For the 1994 feature film Mammo, also starring Farida Jalal, Sikri was awarded the National Film Award. "I am very sorry to hear about her demise. She was an extremely successful actor in theatre and I had seen her plays in Delhi and that's how I was introduced to her work. She has given outstanding performance in three of my films. She is such a brilliant actor that whatever role you gave her she would own it. She played both sympathetic and non-sympathetic roles with elan. She is a top-class, highly competent actor," said Benegal.
The critically-acclaimed filmmaker said Sikri was a director's actor and a disciplined artiste. "One of the things about theatre actors is that they are disciplined and she was also a very disciplined person. She would come on sets absolutely prepared. She never wasted her time or her. She was a director's actor. She was a huge asset on any film," he added.
Off-camera, Benegal said she was a "quiet person".
Gupta, who played daughter-in-law to a Sikri's character in 2018 sleeper hit Badhaai Ho, said she is deeply saddened by the veteran actor's demise. "Today morning I got this very sad news that Surekha Sikri is no more. I want to share my grief with you all. I feel so sad that she is no more," Gupta said in a video message on Instagram.
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Gupta, 62, recalled being enamoured by Sikri's performance during her days in National School of Drama (NSD). "I remember when I was a student in the National School of Drama and how we would sneak in and watch her act. I think I want to become an actress like her. This was many many years ago," she said.
Prior to Badhaai Ho, Sikri and Gupta had worked on TV show Saat Phere - Saloni Ka Safar. Gupta said she learnt a lot by just watching the veteran actor.
"I would just keep watching her when she would do her scenes. And there was so much I learnt (observing her) and there was so much more to learn as well. What commitment she had, she said adding that Sikri kept giving her cues till she got a perfect shot," she said.