The film industry commonly calls Meena Kumari the “tragedy queen,” but Sarika, another actress, had just as many dramatic ups and downs in her life. It wasn’t easy for her to go from being a child star to a leading actress and through a scandalous love affair.
A Childhood Gone to the Movies
Sarika’s life was full of ups and downs from a very young age. Her father left her, and at the age of five, she became the head of her family. In Sunil Dutt’s 1967 movie Hamraaz, she got her start as a boy.
Sarika talked openly about her lost childhood in an interview with Simi Garewal. “I never went to school at all,” she said. She talked about how sad she was that she had missed out on a carefree life and the innocence that comes with it. As a kid performer, she had to do painful sequences, like losing a parent, and she was given “biscuits and chocolates” for crying. “They keep keying your emotions for better shots,” she said, which made her deal with hard feelings while she could have been having fun.
A Life That Was Left Behind
Sarika made her debut as a leading woman when she was 15, but her problems were far from ended. She was 21 when she took the hard choice to leave everything behind, even her mother, with only Rs 60 in her pocket and a car. “I think that is something which I honestly felt was good not just for me but also my mother,” she added, revealing that the decision came after a lot of consideration.
It wasn’t easy to live after leaving. Sarika said, “I would go to my friend’s house, take a shower, and then sleep in my car at night.” She says that her decision to start over and make a new life for herself gave her the strength to go through this very trying time.
A Love Story That Is Not Allowed
She met actor Kamal Haasan during this difficult time. People were quick to criticize their connection. Haasan, who was still married to his first wife, Vani Ganapathy, started a very public relationship with Sarika. They fell in love, but their relationship was anything but easy. Sarika remembered that everyone, even those who loved them, “condemned” them.
When Sarika found out she was pregnant with their first child, Shruti Haasan, things got even more challenging. Sarika stated she just told him what was going on and didn’t ask for anything. “I was just letting him know that I am having your baby.” She said, “I didn’t tell him to marry me, leave his wife, or move in with me.”
But Kamal Haasan’s answer changed everything. He said he wouldn’t let her go and phoned the media to make a statement. “I told them that the baby she is having is mine. I don’t know if what I’m doing is legally right or not, but as a person, I think this is right,” he said. People in society saw their love story as wrong, and Sarika, as the “other woman,” had a hard time even finding a place to rent in Madras.
A Different Kind of Family and a Grown-Up Breakup
Sarika and Kamal Haasan chose to have both of their children, Shruti (born in 1986) and Akshara (born in 1991), outside of marriage. This choice was made because Sarika had a good idea. She didn’t want the second child to have a different status than the first, which could cause problems between the siblings. After Akshara was born, the pair got married.
But they got divorced in 2004. Their oldest daughter, Shruti Haasan, has talked about the divorce in a mature way, saying that it hurt but that her parents’ happiness was more important. Shruti stated, “They were the most beautiful couple I have ever seen when they were together and happy.” “But when they weren’t getting along, they were grown-up enough to talk to each other and say, ‘We can’t.'”
Shruti also talked about how strong her parents are. “I’m glad they are still my parents.” It is beneficial for us if they are happy apart.
Sarika’s life, from a traumatic childhood to an unusual and difficult love story, is a strong example of how strong she is in the face of great hardship.