Late actor Surekha Sikri, who is known for her roles in the TV show Balika Vadhu and films such as Zubeidaa (2001) and Badhaai Ho (2018), lives on through her works. On her birth anniversary, her on-screen son from Balika Vadhu, actor Anup Soni, revisits precious moments spent with her, both on and off the set.

Talking about their shared alma mater, Soni says, “Both of us were from the National School of Drama (NSD). She was much senior than me and was a legend! She was a theatre tycoon.”

The actor recollects memories of his and actor Satyajit Sharma’s intellectual discussions with Sikri and shares, “Satyajit, who played my brother [on the show], is also from NSD. So, Surekha ji, Satyajit and I used to often discuss our institute. She was also very well-read and a sharp person, and she used to have intellectual discussions with us.”

The 48-year-old emphasizes that Sikri had already achieved heights when the two started working together on the daily soap. “We worked together for almost six years. I noticed [on the sets] that her dedication was so great that she used to prepare for her scenes on a daily basis. She used to read and correct her lines very meticulously,” he adds. 

Although Sikri played the strict Dadisa on the show, Soni shares that she was nothing like that in real life. “She used to do cute little things, yet people were scared of her on the sets as she was very particular about work,” he recalls.