Gajra Kottary: Called her the Goddess of acting

Surekha Sikri at a get-together with writer Gajra Kottary

It's a strange feeling and a terrible loss after the great innings we had with Surekha Sikriji. I used to call her the Goddess of acting - there was no one who could match [her screen presence]. The last one or two years were rather difficult, especially for an artiste like her who could no longer do her favourite thing - acting because of the physical limitations, owing to her age and health. Despite her health, she was immensely brave about it and wanted to [continue acting]. She was a bit of a recluse and would refrain from sharing her troubles with anyone.

I remember catching up with her at a Balika Vadhu milestone party during the initial phase of the show. I was amused to see her dance happily with her husband [Hemant Rege] who passed away [in 2009], a year after she joined Balika Vadhu. During one such celebration where we all had decided to dress up as characters from Balika Vadhu, I had donned a Rajasthani metal neckpiece that Dadisa's character always wore. She instantly recognised that I had dressed up as her, even though I had paired it with a salwar suit. While she loved it, she also joked that it was not entirely like Dadisa. Given her serious demeanour, I was surprised to hear her make a joke.

Also read: Surekha Sikri (1945-2021): Lost an actor whom people failed to value, says Shyam Benegal

During the eight years of the show, there was a period of four to five months when she was quite ill. We never worried about the absence of any other character. But not being able to showcase Dadisa on screen was a big fear [for the makers]. People often watched the show to see her. She was the secret heroine of the daily soap. We had to work twice as hard [to fill her void]. We would resort to shooting only top portions from her home, her lines were dubbed and at times we even utilised old footage so that the audience didn't miss her. She was one of the few characters on screen that had a dramatic arc - from being the most hated character, she became the most progressive one. As an artiste, Surekhaji would ask questions to understand her character better and give her own interpretation to Dadisa. She set a standard [of acting] in Balika Vadhu. During internal meetings, we would discuss how every actor upped their game when sharing screen space with her.

Also read: Govind Nihalani: Felt the empathy in Surekha's approach