AMN / New Delhi
Internet giant Google today paid tribute to late actor Farooque Shaikh with a doodle on his 70th birth anniversary. The actor was born on March 25, 1948.
Farooque Shaikh died of a heart attack in Dubai at the age of 65 on December 28, 2013. The actor who once said that he does not wish to be remembered, “Everyone comes into and goes from this world..” has left behind a rich legacy of his work.
Shaikh got his first break in MS Sathyu’s landmark film Garam Hava (1973), which addressed the plight of Muslims who had opted to stay back in the land of their forefathers and shunned Pakistan’s one nation -one religion theory. After that his other notable performances include his key role in Satyajit Ray’s Shatranj ke Khiladi (1977) , his lead role in Gaman (1978) and other films like Chashme Baddoor (1981), Umrao Jaan (1981), Bazaar (1982) among others.
Farooque Shaikh is remembered for his performances in films such as Chashme Baddoor, Noorie, Shatranj Ke Khiladi and Umrao Jaan, to name a few.
Not just cinema, Farooque made his mark in television too. He was the host of one of the most popular celebrity talk shows of that time Jeena Isi Ka Naam Hai. Shaikh also featured in a TV soap ‘Chamatkar’. Apart from that, he also garnered praises for his theatre performances. One of his best performances was in the play ‘Tumhari Amrita’, based on the life of lyricist Sahir Ludhianvi and famous poet Amrita Pritam. Actress Shabana Azmi was also a part of the play.
Shaikh had a sparkling chemistry on-screen with veteran actress Deepti Naval.He starred in a number of roled opposite yesteryear actor Dipti Naval. The two starred in almost nine films, which include ‘Noorie’, ‘Chashme Buddoor’, ‘Umrao Jaan’, ‘Katha’, ‘Saath Saath’, ‘Kissi se Na Kehna’, ‘Rang Birangi’, ‘Maya Memsaab’ and ‘Tell Me Oh Khuda’.
“Today’s Doodle by Nimit Malavia is a tribute to Farouque Shaikh’s cinematic career in a style evocative of hand-painted movie posters of the 1970s, and especially Umrao Jaan. We see the wide-eyed romantic hero of the 1970’s mature into a comfortingly familiar TV presence of the 1990’s, bridging the gap between mainstream and arthouse cinema in India along the way,” Google said in its blog post on the doodle.
Farooque Shaikh succumbed to a massive heart attack at the age of 65 in Dubai, where he was enjoying a vacation with his family, on December 28, 2013.