3 years of Badhaai Ho: Remembering Surekha Sikri through her hit dialogues from the film

Badhaai Ho not just turned out to be a game changer for the veteran actors who starred in the film but also the way films are made in Bollywood. The Amit Sharma film took Neena Gupta and Gajraj Rao’s careers to all new heights and made Surekha Sikri steal attention from the younger lead couple played by Ayushmann Khurrana and Sanya Malhotra with her powerful presence. As it completes three years today, here’s remembering Surekha through her hit dialogues which truly made her the star of the film. 

Surekha, just like everybody else in the house, didn’t spare a chance to give son Jeetendra Kaushik (Gajraj Rao) an earful for making his wife Priyamvada (Neena Gupta) pregnant at such an age. She asked her son, “Sabse pahle to nu janna hai mujhe…time kab mil gaya tujhe…ab sab samaj aara hai…kyu bhu ka badan tuta kare roz roz (First of all tell me this…when did you get time for all this…now I understand…why my daughter-in-law’s body used to ache every day).”

She taunted him yet again and mentioned how he took one of her joke a bit too seriously. She said, “Yu to bachcho ka kaam hota hai naam roshan karna. Tune to apne bachcho ko mauka hi nhi dia. Main to Nakul ko joke kare thi ki teri god me balak dekhna chahu. Teri bahu ne to serious lelia dikhe (Kids are expected to make their parents proud but you didn’t give your kids a chance. I used to joke with Nakul (her grandson and Jeetendra’s son) that I wish to see a child in his arms but it seems your wife took it seriously).”

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Surekha Sikri had sudden fits of anger in the film and the new development added to it. Taking a dig at Jeetendra’s government job in the Railways, she said, “Apne aap ko sarkari naukar batao. Jab sarkar ki baat hi nhi samajh aari to itne sal se naukri kaisi (You call yourself a government servant but what have you done all these years when you could not understand the government’s family planning campaign).”

Surekha eventually got her due when she won the National Film Award for Supporting Actor for her performance in the film. She arrived in a wheelchair to receive the award from President Ram Nath Kovind. RIP Surekha ji.