National Award-winning actress Surekha Sikri died on Friday, earlier this morning. According to media reports the actress died due to a cardiac arrest. Sikri was ailing for some time now after a brain stroke in 2020, and a paralytic stroke in 2018.
According to other media reports, her manager confirmed the actress' demise. Sikri was a well-known face in theatre, television and films, and had won the National Award three times for Best Supporting Actress in Tamas (1988), Mammo (1995) and Badhaai Ho (2018).
Sikri was born in Uttar Pradesh, and graduated from National School of Drama (NSD) in 1971. She made her debut with 1978 political drama film Kissa Kursi Ka. She also won the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1989. She was seen in Shyam Benegal's films such as Mammo, Sardari Begum, and Zubeidaa. The actress was most popular as Kalyani Devi in TV soap Balika Vadhu and then the 2018 movie Badhaai Ho once again put her back in the limelight for which she won the National Award.