While still doing his Bachelor in Fine Arts from Nagpur University, Surkar along with actor Girish Oak and Pramod Bhusari conducted various workshops.

Surkar then moved to Mumbai and continued his theatre work with commercial plays like Chafa Bolena, Preetisangam and Tu Fakta Ho Mhan.

Produced by Smita Talwalkar, the film handled the delicate topic of extra-marital affair, its effects on families and children.

In 1991, Surkar directed his first independent feature film Chaukat Raja that was produced by Smita Talwalkar under her banner "Asmita Chitra".

Prabhavalkar received Best Actor award granted by the Government of Maharashtra[6] and with critical acclaims to the film, Surkar was noticed as a director.

His next project Aaplee Maanse (1993) was a family drama film with an ensemble cast of many notable actors of the Marathi film industry that included Prashant Damle, Mohan Joshi, Sudhir Joshi, Sachin Khedekar, Reema Lagoo, Dilip Prabhavalkar, Ashok Saraf and Renuka Shahane.

In 2004, the Surkar-Talwalkar team brought to viewers Saatchya Aat Gharat, a film that questioned western culture's influence on teenagers.

With lead roles played by Siddharth Kher and Adinath Kothare, the plot was about the internal politics in football.

The show Avantika with Mrinal Kulkarni playing the title lead role, won numerous awards for her and made her a household name.

In 2010 he went on to produce the TV show Dhoondh Legi Manzil Humein, which was loosely based on his film Gharabaher.

[17] He was also working on the script of an upcoming film to be directed by Nitin Chandrakant Desai on the life of Indian freedom fighter Lokmanya Tilak.