Director Amit Ravindernath Sharma’s Badhaai Ho was not only one of the most appreciated film of 2018 but it also became blockbuster box office success. The film starred Ayushmann Khurrana, Sanya Malhotra, Neena Gupta, Surekha Sikri and Gajraj Rao.
Despite an ensemble cast, Sikri managed to stand apart and was highly appreciated for her indirect humour in the role of an ageing grandmother. The scenes where she lashes out at her son (Rao) and daughter-in-law (Gupta) for bearing a child so late in life stand out.
Not many would know that Sharma selected Sikri for the character after a process of long audition. He revealed this during a chat session at the MAMI Movie Mela yesterday, 13 October, in Mumbai. “I auditioned Surekha Sikri ji for Badhaai Ho’s role. I told her that this is a role which I see in a particular way and I want to audition you for this. And she happily gave me the audition and not once [but] thrice,” he said.
Sharma asserted the importance of audition for him as a filmmaker. “Audition is very, very important because you get to understand whether that actor can act or not. That’s a very important process. Sometimes what happens is photographs come and I don’t believe in them. That’s my personal opinion because photographs are generally Photoshopped,” he said.
The 74-year-old actress has been working in films and television since the 1970s. Sikri also won her third National Award for Best Supporting Actress for this role earlier this August.