She was born into a poor family. She used to work as a maid to make her livelihood.
At the age of 8, she left school and started dancing. During her first show, she performed in front of only three audiences.
In 2011, Punekar made her directorial debut with the stage show, ‘Nashikchi Naar.’
During the 2019 General Elections, it was speculated that she would contest the election from the Pune Lok Sabha Constituency as a candidate of the Indian National Congress (INC). However, the seat was contested by Mohan Joshi.
In 2019, Punekar appeared in the season 2 of Bigg Boss Marathi.
Here’s an interesting video about Surekha Punekar’s biography