Sarika was born in New Delhi into a family of Marathi and Rajput descent. Her father left away the family when she was very young. From then, she became the head of the family and was forced to work. She did not attend school.
Career
Sarika started her film career as a child actor at the age of 4, playing the role of a boy, Master Sooraj, during the 1960s in Bollywood. Her most notable and popular appearance as a child artist was in the year 1967 musical superhit Hamraaz where she was seen as the daughter of Vimi named baby/saarika. She appeared in many children's movies. Later She moved on to films with Rajshri ProductionsGeet Gaata Chal with Sachin, with whom she starred in many Hindi and Marathi films.
In her acting career, she was often cast as a "westernized girl" in films due to look Non-Indian looks. She gave birth to a baby girl Shruti Hassan in 1986. She gave up her acting career after her marriage to Kamal Haasan and moved to Chennai with him during the peak of her career. After separation, she made a comeback with Hindi films. She played Ipsita Ray Chakraverti in the film Sacred Evil – A True Story which failed at the box office.
She has starred as Sheetal Thadani in the movie Bheja Fry (2006), where she played wife of Rajat Kapoor. She also had a small but important role in Manorama Six Feet Under. Her latest movie is Shoebite which has been delayed for production where she stars opposite Amitabh Bachchan.
