Sarika: Ran out of money in lockdown; theatre paid like Rs 2000

Actress Sarika is all set to return to the sets with web series ‘Modern Love: Mumbai’. The actress was on a planned break for a year which got extended due to the pandemic-induced lockdown. Returning to the sets after five long years, Sarika has revealed her struggles during the lockdown. Like many others, the actress ran out of money in the lockdown and she struggled to make ends meet working in theatres that fetched her less than Rs 3000.

In an interaction with News18, Sarika said, “I just thought I was wasting life in a way if you look at it. You wake up every morning, (things) don’t happen, you go to sleep. So I just decided to take one year’s break and not do any work. Go away and do something totally different.” She said she started doing theatres, “That was so brilliant that one year turned into five years. So I was just happy doing all that. Lockdown happened and the money ran out, so where do you go? You go back to acting because in theatre you just get like ₹2000-2700 and you can’t do anything, so this is why I was not at all there.”

Directed by Alankrita Shrivastava, the anthology ‘Modern Love: Mumbai’ features Sarika in the short ‘My Beautiful Wrinkles’ that also stars Danesh Razvi and Ahsaas Channa. It chronicles a few days in the life of Dilbar Sodhi, a woman in her 60s played by Sarika, who has to grapple with a young man’s declaration of romantic interest in her. Produced by Pritish Nandy Communications, ‘Modern Love: Mumbai’ will premiere on May 13.

Apart from ‘Modern Love: Mumbai’, Sarika will also be seen in Sooraj Barjatya’s film ‘Uunchai’ alongside Amitabh Bachchan, Neena Gupta, Anupam Kher, Parineeti Chopra and Boman Irani.