[2] He was "picked" by Mehboob Khan whom he met at Sagar Movietone, to sing and act in films as an alternative to the then Calcutta-based singer-actor, K. L.

[4] He soon became a part of Sagar Movietone when his song "Birha Ki Aag Lagi More Man Mein" from the film became an "instant hit".

[5] He was "spotted" by the then leading distributor from Delhi, Lala Alopi Prashad who encouraged the young Surendra to join films.

[6] On the instigation of his friends who wanted him to try his luck in films as a singer, he left Punjab and came to Bombay, where he met Mehboob Khan.

Deccan Queen, with music by Anil Biswas, was a story about a police inspector played by Surendra, who has twin sisters fall in love with him.

[5] The other notable song from this film was a popular ghazal sung by Surendra "Yaad Na Kar Dil-e-Haseen Bhooli Hui Kahaniyan".

It was cited as a "music-dominated" love triangle starring Surendra with Bibbo and Prabha, who played the role of his wife.

In Aurat, he cast Surendra as the older brother, a role to be played by Rajendra Kumar in Mother India.

The film was a bilingual, made both in Hindi and Punjabi, with Surendra playing the double role of Alibaba and his son.

[18] In 1940, it was reported by Baburao Patel, editor of Filmindia in the June 1940 issue that Surendra had fallen off a horse while riding at the Bombay Turf Club lawns.

In 1943, he acted in Paigham, directed by music director Gyan Dutt, Vish Kanya, by Kidar Sharma and Vishwas, by Homi Wadia.

Directed by K. B. Lall, it had music by Mir Sahib with the duet "Dil Le Ke Mukar Na Jaana, Nazuk Hai Bahut Zamana", sung by Noor Jehan and Surendra and two solos songs by Surendra, "Yehi Fiqar Hai Shyam Pichale Savere" and "Kyun Man Dhoondhe Prem Nadi Ka Kinara" becoming successful.

When the censors cleared the film for viewing it was "rejected" by audiences and did not fare well at the box office though Surendra's acting was acclaimed as the "simple-hearted" stepbrother.

[24] Suendra went on to act in a couple of films directed by Mohan Sinha, Mere Bhagwan and Chittor Vijay, which turned out to unsuccessful commercially.

Anokhi Ada was unsuccessful in creating the same "magic" as Anmol Ghadi and has been cited as "at best a modest grosser" at the box office.

The film starring Meena Kumari and Bharat Bhushan in the lead roles, went on to become a big success commercially, with its music composed by Naushad becoming popular.

[27] However, instead of singing for himself in the film, Surendra had to lip-sync to Ustad Amir Khan for the song "Ghanana Ghanana Kar Barso Re" in raga Malhar, while the song sequence between Tansen and Baiju played by Bharat Bhushan had Ustad Amir Khan and D. V. Paluskar providing playback singing for them.

[28] In 1954, Surendra's version of the song from Gawaiya "Teri Yaad Ka Deepak Jalta Hai Din Raat" was claimed to be a "super-hit".

Some of his films in the period from late 1950s to 1970s included Rani Roopmati (1957), Mughal-E-Azam (1960) where he again played Tansen, Hariyali Aur Raasta (1962), Geet Gaaya Pattharone (1964), Waqt (1965), Boond Jo Ban Gayee Moti, Milan (1967) and Saraswatichandra (1968).

[5] Surendra started making ad films and Television commercials for "big brands" like Colgate and Liril several years before his death.