Sarika Thakur is an Indian actress and costume designer. In 2005, she won the

National Film Award for Best Actress The National Film Award for Best Actress (officially known as the Rajat Kamal Award for the Best Actress) is an honour presented annually at the National Film Awards of India since 1968 to an actress for the best performance in a leading role wit ...

for the English-language film ''

Parzania ''Parzania'' (translation: ''Heaven and hell on earth'') is a 2007 Indian drama film co-written and directed by Rahul Dholakia; David N. Donihue is the other co-writer. The film featured Naseeruddin Shah and Sarika in the lead roles, while Cori ...

''. She was also awarded the

National Film Award for Best Costume Design The National Film Award for Best Costume Design is one of the National Film Awards presented annually by the Directorate of Film Festivals, the organisation set up by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, India. It is one of several awards p ...

for her work in ''

Hey Ram ''Hey Ram'' is a 2000 Indian period crime drama film written, directed and produced by Kamal Haasan, who also stars. It was simultaneously made in Tamil and Hindi languages. Shah Rukh Khan plays a supporting role, making his debut in Tamil ci ...

'' (2001).

Early life

Sarika was born in

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament House ...

into a family of

Marathi Marathi may refer to: *Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India *Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people *Palaiosouda, also known as Marathi, a small island in Greece See also * * ...

and

Rajput Rajput (from Sanskrit ''raja-putra'' 'son of a king') is a large multi-component cluster of castes, kin bodies, and local groups, sharing social status and ideology of genealogical descent originating from the Indian subcontinent. The term Ra ...

descent. Her father abandoned the family when she was very young. From then on, she became the breadwinner of the family. As she had to work for a living, she did not attend school.

Career

Sarika started her film career as a child actor at the age of 5, playing the role of a boy, Master Sooraj, during the 1960s in Hindi language films. Her most notable and popular appearance as a child artist was in the year 1967 in the musical superhit ''

Hamraaz ''Hamraaz'' () is a 1967 Indian Bollywood suspense thriller film, produced and directed by B. R. Chopra and written by Akhtar-Ul-Iman. It stars Raaj Kumar, Sunil Dutt, Vimi, Mumtaz in lead roles, with Balraj Sahni, Madan Puri, Jeevan, If ...

'', where she was seen as the daughter of

Vimi Vimi (1943 – 22 August 1977) was an Indian actress who acted in Indian films such as '' Aabroo'', ''Hamraaz'' and '' Patanga''. She starred with Sunil Dutt in ''Hamraaz'' and became notable. Career Vimi debuted opposite Sunil Dutt i ...

named ''baby Saarika''. She appeared in many children's movies. Later, she moved on to films with

Rajshri Productions Rajshri Productions Pvt. Ltd. is a film production and distribution company based in Mumbai, India, established in 1947, which is primarily involved in producing Hindi films. The most successful films produced by the company include ''Dosti'' ( ...

Geet Gaata Chal ''Geet Gaata Chal'' () is a Hindi film released in 1975. Produced by Tarachand Barjatya for Rajshri Productions, the film is directed by Hiren Nag. The film stars Sachin, Sarika, Madan Puri, Padma Khanna and Leela Mishra. The songs written and ...

'' with Sachin, with whom she starred in many Hindi and Marathi films. She gave birth to a baby girl,

Shruti Hassan Shruti Haasan (born 28 January 1986) is an Indian actress and playback singer who works predominantly in Telugu, Tamil and Hindi films. Born in the Haasan family, she is the daughter of actor-filmmaker Kamal Haasan and actress Sarika Thakur. ...

in 1986. She gave up her acting career after her marriage to

Kamal Haasan Kamal Haasan (born 7 November 1954) is an Indian actor, filmmaker, screenwriter, playback singer, television presenter and politician who works mainly in Tamil cinema and has also appeared in some Telugu, Malayalam, Hindi, Kannada and Bengali l ...

and moved to Chennai with him during the peak of her career. Their younger daughter,

Akshara Haasan Akshara Haasan is an Indian actress who has appeared in Tamil and Hindi-language films. The daughter of actors Kamal Haasan and Sarika Thakur, and the younger sister of Shruti Haasan, she made her film debut with the comedy drama ''Shamitabh' ...

, was born in 1991. After separating from her husband, she made a comeback in Hindi films. She played

Ipsita Ray Chakraverti Ipsita Roy Chakraverti (born Ipsita Chakraverti; 3 November 1950) is a Wiccan priestess based in India. Born into an elite family in India with a diplomat for a father and royalty for mother, Chakraverti spent her early years in Canada and the U ...

in the film '' Sacred Evil – A True Story'' which failed at the box office. In year 2000, Sarika won the

for the film ''

''. Her performance in ''

'' in which she plays the role of a

Zoroastrian Zoroastrianism is an Iranian religion and one of the world's oldest organized faiths, based on the teachings of the Iranian-speaking prophet Zoroaster. It has a dualistic cosmology of good and evil within the framework of a monotheistic on ...

woman who loses her child during the 2002 riots of India, earned her the

Khalid Mohamed Khalid Mohamed is an Indian journalist, editor, film critic, screenwriter and film director. He formerly worked for the ''Hindustan Times'' and was the lead editor for ''Filmfare'' magazine. He is the son of Hindi film actress Zubeida Begum, ...

wrote for ''

Hindustan Times ''Hindustan Times'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper based in Delhi. It is the flagship publication of HT Media, an entity controlled by the KK Birla family, and is owned by Shobhana Bhartia. It was founded by Sunder Singh Lyall ...

'' of her performance, "Sarika is marvellously restrained and lifelike, making you care for Parzania straight from the heart." Sarika has starred as Sheetal Thadani in the movie '' Bheja Fry'' (2006), where she played the wife of

Rajat Kapoor Rajat Kapoor (born 11 February 1961) is an Indian actor, filmmaker and playwright who works in Hindi cinema. Kapoor was born in Delhi, India. He mainly focused on acting at first. In 2013 he joined the theatre group Chingari in Delhi, later mov ...

. She also had a small but important role in ''

Manorama Six Feet Under ''Manorama Six Feet Under'' is a 2007 Indian thriller film directed and co-written by Navdeep Singh. The film features Abhay Deol, Raima Sen and Gul Panag in the lead roles. The film released on 21 September 2007. It follows an amateur detect ...

''. Her latest movie is ''

Shoebite ''Shoebite'' is an unreleased film and is the story of a man in his early 60s played by Amitabh Bachchan. The film is based on a story ''Labour Of Love'' by M. Night Shyamalan. It is directed by Shoojit Sircar and produced by UTV Motion Pictu ...

'', which has been delayed for production, where she stars opposite

Amitabh Bachchan Amitabh Bachchan (; born as Amitabh Shrivastav; 11 October 1942) is an Indian actor, film producer, television host, occasional playback singer and former politician known for his work in Hindi cinema. He is regarded as one of the most succe ...

. Sarika made her television debut in

Sony TV Sony Television, Sony TV, or Sony HD may refer to any of the following television-related products from Japanese conglomerate Sony: * Television sets designed and manufactured by Sony Corporation in Japan ** Trinitron, television hardware brand (196 ...

's '' Yudh'' which stars

in the lead role. Apart from acting, she also served as the costume designer, sound designer and associate director for ''Kuruthipunal'' (1995) under

Raaj Kamal Films International Raaj Kamal Films International is an Indian film production and distribution company founded and headed by Kamal Haasan. ''Raja Paarvai'' (1981) was the first film to be produced by them under the banner "Haasan Brothers" before renaming it t ...

Filmography

Web series

Television

Awards

**''

'' (2005) *

**''

'' (2000)

References

External links

* * {{Authority control Actresses from Delhi Indian film actresses Indian child actresses Actresses in Hindi cinema Indian amateur radio operators Best Actress National Film Award winners Living people Amateur radio women Amateur radio people 20th-century Indian actresses 21st-century Indian actresses Best Costume Design National Film Award winners Indian costume designers 1962 births