Surekha Sikri played Rajo in this Govind Nihalani creation

Surekha [Sikri] was a student of the National School of Drama. I knew of her when she was doing theatre in Delhi. I liked her stage performances immensely. When I was working on [my television-film] Tamas [based on the Hindi novel of the same name by Bhisham Sahni in 1988], she had just come to Mumbai. Surekha Sikri was my first choice to play the character of Rajo and I am glad she accepted it. It rightly garnered her the National Award for Best Supporting Actress.

Rajo [her character in Tamas] was a Muslim woman hailing from a simple background, stuck between her hot-headed son and God-fearing and honest husband. Once explained, Surekha would grasp the graph of the character [with ease]. She was a natural actor, who put in a lot of hard work into her performances, but you would never know that watching her act so effortlessly on screen. What touched me the most about her portrayal is the simplicity with which she played the role.

There are some things about every actor that a director identifies with, which help create a good working relationship. One of the things about Surekha was that she was a warm-hearted human being and that translated on-screen. It became part of her personality and all the characters she ever played on stage and in cinema; there was little artifice about that. Surekha didn’t bring any kind of artificial technique to creating a character. You just felt the empathy in her approach.

We also worked together in another film called Deham [2001] — a modern Indian sci-fi film written by Manjula Padmanabhan, based on her play Harvest. It was starkly different from her character in Tamas. Surekha played a difficult and controlling mother-in-law to her family. I trust my actors and their approach to acting. [Even in Deham], she approached her character with utmost honesty.

As told to Upala KBR

Kissa Kursi Ka (1979): She made her debut with this political satire based on Indira Gandhi and Sanjay Gandhi, where she played a negative character, Meera.

Tamas (1986): Based on the Hindi novel by actor-writer Bhisham Sahni, the film garnered her, her first National Award for Best Supporting Actress.

Mammo (1994): She played grandmother Fayyazi to a young Amit Phalke in this Shyam Benegal creation. The film was the first part in the trilogy, which was later followed by Sardari Begum (1996) and Zubeidaa (2001). Surekha received her second National Award with this outing.

Zubeidaa (2001): Sikri reprised her role of Fayyazi in Shyam Benegal’s third instalment, which also featured Karisma Kapoor.

Balika Vadhu (2008-2016): The actor played the character of Dadisa for eight years and won the Best Negative Lead gong at the Indian Telly Awards.

Badhaai Ho (2018): She received her last National Award for this Ayushmann Khurrana-starrer.