Farooq Shaikh (25 March 1948 − 28 December 2013) was an Indian actor, philanthropist and television presenter. He was best known for his work in Hindi films from 1973 to 1993 and for his work in television between 1988 and 2002. He returned to acting in films in 2008 and continued to do so until his death on 28 December 2013. His major contribution was in Parallel Cinema or the New Indian Cinema. He worked with directors like Satyajit Ray, Sai Paranjpye, Muzaffar Ali, Hrishikesh Mukherjee and Ketan Mehta. He acted in serials and shows on television and performed on stage in productions such as ''

Tumhari Amrita ''Tumhari Amrita'' is an epistolary play directed by Feroz Abbas Khan. Its original cast includes Shabana Azmi and Farooq Shaikh.Shabana Azmi, directed by Feroz Abbas Khan, and presented the TV show, '' Jeena Isi Ka Naam Hai'' (Season 1). He won the 2010

National Film Award for Best Supporting Actor The National Film Award for Best Supporting Actor, officially known as the Rajat Kamal Award for the Best Supporting Actor (), is an honour presented annually at India's National Film Awards ceremony by the Directorate of Film Festivals (DFF), a ...

for ''

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second List of cities in Pakistan by population, most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th List of largest cities, most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is th ...

''.

Personal life

Shaikh was born in 1948 at

Amroli Amroli is a suburb in around Surat state of gujarat in India. The nearest airport is surat airport. Geography The city is located at an average elevation of 12 metres (66 feet). Demographics India census, Amroli had a populatio ...

, a village 90 km off

Vadodara Vadodara (), also known as Baroda, is the second largest city in the Indian state of Gujarat. It serves as the administrative headquarters of the Vadodara district and is situated on the banks of the Vishwamitri River, from the state capita ...

Gujarat Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

to Farida and Mustafa Shaikh. His father was a lawyer who worked in Bombay and whose family came from

Hansot ’Hansanagari’ but well known as Hansot is a village in Bharuch district, Southern Gujarat, India. It is about southwest of the city of Bharuch, and south of the Narmada River. The village and its surrounding ''taluka'' were acquired by the ...

in the Bharuch district of

. Shaikh's family were landowners, and he grew up in luxurious surroundings in Nagpada, Bombay. He was the eldest of five children. Shaikh attended St. Mary's School in Bombay and then graduated from St. Xavier's College in the city before studying law at Siddharth College of Law, following his father into the profession. He did not, however, undertake a legal career, instead choosing theatre, having acted in college. At St Xavier's Shaikh met Roopa, his future wife. Both were active in theatre and were later married after nine years; the couple have two daughters Sanaa and Shaista. His time at St. Xavier's was important for both personal and professional reasons and he made many friends there, including Sunil Gavaskar, who was a contemporary. Actor Shabana Azmi, then known mainly as the daughter of noted poet

Kaifi Azmi Kaifi Azmi (born Athar Husain Rizvi; 14 January 1919 – 10 May 2002) was an Indian Urdu poet. He is remembered as the one who brought Urdu literature to Indian motion pictures. Together with Pirzada Qasim, Jaun Elia and others he participat ...

, was Roopa's classmate at St Xavier's.

Career

In his early days, he was active in theatre, doing plays with IPTA and with well-known directors like Sagar Sarhadi. In 1973, while Shaikh was in his final year of law school, ''

MS Sathyu Mysore Shrinivas Sathyu ( kn, ಮೈಸೂರು ಶ್ರೀನಿವಾಸ ಸತ್ಯು) (born 6 July 1930) is a leading film director, stage designer and art director from India. He is best known for his directorial ''Garm Hava'' (1973), ...

'' approached him for his directorial debut ''

Garam Hawa ''Garm Hava'' (translation: Hot Winds or Scorching Winds) is a 1973 Indian drama film directed by M. S. Sathyu, with Balraj Sahni as the lead. It was written by Kaifi Azmi and Shama Zaidi, based on an unpublished short story by noted Urdu writ ...

''. His first major film role was in the 1973 film ''

'', where Farooque had a supporting role and the leading man was Balraj Sahni. The film is credited for being a pioneer of a new wave of Hindi Art cinema. His salary for his debut film was only Rs. 750. He first gained recognition as a quiz master on radio, but it was his participation as an anchor on Bombay Doordarshan shows such as Yuvadarshan and Young World that made him a household name. Shaikh in '' Gaman'' (1978) acted as the migrant Bombay taxi driver from Badaun in Uttar Pradesh hoping to return to meet his wife, but never saves up enough to return home. He went on to act in several notable films such as Satyajit Ray's '' Shatranj Ke Khiladi'' (Chess Players) (1977), '' Noorie'' (1979), '' Chashme Buddoor'' (1981), '' Umrao Jaan'' (1981), '' Bazaar'' (1982), '' Saath Saath'' (1982), '' Rang Birangi'' (1983), '' Kissi Se Na Kehna'' (1983), ''

Ek Baar Chale Aao ''Ek Baar Chale Aao'' is a 1983 social film by Abdul Sattar Khan starring Deepti Naval and Farooq Shaikh in the lead roles. It was released on 20 January 1983. Plot Dharam Das has found an ideal groom for his sister in Din Dayal, who agrees to ...

'' (1983), '' Katha'' (1983), ''

Ab Ayega Mazaa ''Ab Ayega Mazaa'' () is a 1984 Indian Hindi-language film directed by Pankaj Parashar and produced by actors Alok Nath and Girija Shankar. It stars Farooq Sheikh and Anita Raj . This film introduced music directors Anand–Milind who went on t ...

'' (1984), '' Salma'' (1985), '' Faasle'' (1985), ''Peechha Karo'' (1986), '' Biwi Ho To Aisi'' (1988), and ''

Maya Memsaab ''Maya Memsaab'' (also known as ''Maya'' and ''Maya: The Enchanting Illusion'' in English) is a 1993 Indian mystery drama film directed by Ketan Mehta and starring Deepa Sahi, Farooq Shaikh, Raj Babbar, Shah Rukh Khan, and Paresh Rawal. The fi ...

'' (1993). He formed a successful pair with Deepti Naval. He also did a slightly negative role in '' Katha''. He was paired opposite Shabana Azmi in Sagar Sarhadi's ''Lorie'', Kalpana Lajmi's ''Ek Pal'' and Muzaffar Ali's '' Anjuman'' (1986) and then in the play ''Tumhari Amrita''. His chemistry with Deepti Naval led to them being cast opposite each other in nine films, namely ''Chashme Buddoor'', ''Katha'', ''Saath Saath'', ''Kissi Se Na Kehna'', ''Rang Birangi'', ''Ek Baar Chale Aao'', ''Tell Me Oh Khuda'', ''Faasle'' and ''Listen... Amaya''. They also appeared as the lead pair in an episode on Hasrat Mohani in the TV serial ''

Kahkashan {{Infobox television , image = , caption = , runtime = approx. 25 minutes , creator = , director = Jalal Agha , producer = Ali Sardar Jafri , starring ...

''. In 2002, in an interview with The Times of India, Shaikh said, "I have never been commercially viable. People recognise me, smile and wave at me — but I have never received marriage proposals written in blood. In his heyday in 70s and 80s, when Rajesh Khanna drove down a street, the traffic stopped — I don't mind not receiving this kind of adulation. But I do miss not having been able to command the kind of work I wanted which Khanna could always do. I miss not being 100 per cent commercially viable like him." In the 1990s, he acted in fewer films. But resurfaced in notable roles in the 2000s. He appeared in ''

Saas Bahu Aur Sensex ''Saas Bahu aur Sensex'' is an Indian Hindi film which was released 19 September 2008, directed by Shona Urvashi. It stars Kirron Kher, Tanushree Dutta, Ankur Khanna, Farooq Shaikh, Masumeh Makhija, Lillete Dubey, and Sharon Prabhakar. The f ...

'' (2008) and ''

'' (2009), for which he won the 2010

. He appeared as Bunny (Ranbir Kapoor)'s father in '' Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani'' (2013). His last film as the leading man was ''

Club 60 ''Club 60'' is a 2013 Indian comedy drama film produced by Kavee Kumar under the ''Pulse Media'' banner and is directed by Sanjay Tripathi. The film features Farooq Sheikh, Sarika Thakur, Raghubir Yadav and Satish Shah in key roles. The film ...

'' (2013) which was also his last release before his death. Realbollywood.com said about his performance in the film: "As a grieving father who won't allow his loss to be forgotten, he hits all the right notes treading that thin line between melancholy and maudlin with majestic grace." He also appeared in ''

Youngistaan ''Youngistaan'' () is a 2014 Indian Hindi-language political film directed by Syed Ahmad Afzal. It stars Jackky Bhagnani, Neha Sharma and Farooq Sheikh with Kayoze Irani appears in a special appearance and Boman Irani appears in a cameo appearan ...

'' and '' Children of War'', both of which released in 2014, after his demise. In the 80s-90s, Farooque Shaikh appeared in several television serials. He played the title role in an episode dedicated to the poet and freedom fighter Hasrat Mohani in the TV series ''Kahkashan'' (1988) with Deepti Naval playing his wife. He also worked in the famous TV serial '' Shrikant'' which aired on Doordarshan from 1987 to 1991. This show was an adaptation of Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay's novel. This was followed by ''Aahaa'' on Zee. ''Chamatkar'' on Sony and '' Ji Mantriji'' (an adaptation of '' Yes, Minister''),on Star Plus were other notable successes. Shaikh also had a cameo in Life OK's ''

Do Dil Ek Jaan ''Do Dil... Ek Jaan'' ( ''Two Hearts... One Soul'') is an Indian television drama series, that premiered on Life OK on3 June 2013 and ended on 24 January 2014. It was produced by Abhinav Shukla under his Nautanki Films banner. The series starre ...

'', where he was seen as the leading lady's father in the initial episodes. Earlier in the 70s he compered the Binny Double or Quits Quiz contest, which was telecast over Vividh Bharati. His career on stage that began as a student at St. Xavier's College in the late 1960s reached its peak in the famous play ''

Tumhari Amrita ''Tumhari Amrita'' is an epistolary play directed by Feroz Abbas Khan. Its original cast includes Shabana Azmi and Farooq Shaikh.Pygmalion'' in 2004. He hosted the TV show ''Jeena Issi Ka Naam Hai'', in which he interviewed celebrities from the Hindi film world. His sense of humour and direct humble approach was the USP of the show. Lesser known is his contribution to the UNICEF polio eradication programme. He made several extensive trips to two polio-endemic states, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, and worked closely with its programme teams who were working with communities to get greater acceptance for the polio vaccine. He also kept on helping 26/11 affected families in Mumbai.

Death

Farooque Shaikh died of a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which ma ...

in the early hours of 28 December 2013 in

Dubai Dubai (, ; ar, wikt:دبي, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the List of cities in the United Arab Emirates#Major cities, most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 ...

, where he was on holiday with his family. His funeral prayers, held in

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the secon ...

at Millat Nagar Andheri Mosque on 30 December 2013 in the evening, were attended by many personalities, including Javed Akhtar and Shabana Azmi. He was buried in Muslim Qabristan, Four Bungalows, Andheri West. His grave is near that of his mother.

Filmography

Film

Television

Awards and recognition

, - , 2010 , ''

'' ,

, , - , 2019 , , Bimal Roy Lifetime Achievement Award
, * On 25 March 2018, search engine

Google Google LLC () is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company focusing on Search Engine, search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, software, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, ar ...

commemorated Farooq Sheikh with a Doodle on his 70th birth anniversary. Google commented: "Farouque Shaikh essayed agonizing heartbreak and light-hearted comedy with equal ease. Beyond the silver screen, Shaikh was integral to Indian theater, and his epistolary play, 'Tumhari Amrita' with Shabana Azmi delighted audiences for over two decades."

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sheikh, Farooq 1948 births 2013 deaths Indian male film actors Indian male stage actors Indian People's Theatre Association people Indian Sunni Muslims Gujarati people People from Gujarat St. Xavier's College, Mumbai alumni Indian television presenters Indian male television actors Male actors in Hindi cinema Best Supporting Actor National Film Award winners