Actress Sarika: Indian cinema’s veteran actress Sarika started her acting career as a child artist at the age of just 5. She has been a part of several films and has also won two National Awards – one for Best Costume Design for the film Hey Ram in the year 2000 and the other for Best Actress for her performance in the English language film Parzania in 2005. However, his career stalled thrice due to various reasons. In an interview, Sarika has revealed the real reason behind taking a break at the age of 25.
Sarika took the first break in her career in 1986. When she and her ex-husband Kamal Haasan became parents to daughter Shruti Haasan. He then made a comeback in the mid-2000s with films like Bheja Fry, Manorama Six Feet Under and Parzania. ‘I felt that if you watch it, I am kind of wasting my life. You wake up every morning, nothing happens, then you go back to sleep. So at that time I also decided to just take a break of one year and not do any work. Go away and do something completely different.
She says, ‘Money is gone because of the lockdown, so where do you go? You go back to acting because in theater you get only ₹2000-2700 and you can’t do anything so I was not there at all. It was a very conscious decision but I thought it would be for one year but it became five years. Those five years were very good. Sarika had revealed that the Kovid-19 pandemic led to a break during which she worked in theatres. He told that he ran out of money during the lockdown and got less than ₹3,000 for working in theatres.
Talking about personal life, Sarika lived in a live-in relationship and gave birth to Shruti Haasan without marriage. Later in 1988 she married actor Kamal Haasan. However, Sarika and Kamal parted ways in 2004 after living together for 16 years.
Sarika talks about taking her first leave at the age of 25 and reveals the real reason behind it. He told that he had given birth to his elder daughter Shruti Haasan in 1986, due to whose upbringing he had to put a brake on his career. Sarika praised women who could manage their work and family together. They could not be that proficient in it.
Sarika says when I gave birth to Shruti, I told myself, ‘Ab films se bas itna hi’ because I like to give my 100 per cent. I have admiration and respect for women who can juggle raising a child and their career. I am not that smart and till then I had worked for so many years. What people start at 20 and finish at 50, I completed that by the age of 25. I was not tired but I was ready to raise children while taking care of my family.
Sarika and Kamal’s elder daughter, Shruti Haasan also followed in her parents’ footsteps and entered the world of glam and glitz.
Shruti made her Bollywood debut with the film Ramaiya Vastavaiya opposite Girish Kumar. In an interview to Hindustan Times, Shruti spoke openly about her relationship with her parents.