Farooq Sheikh

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Farooq Sheikh was born to a Muslim father and a Parsi mother into a zamindar family in Surat ,Gujarat. Sheikh had a luxurious childhood along with his five siblings of which he was the eldest. Shaikh did his schooling from St. Mary’s School after which he went on to secure a degree from St. Xaviers College, Mumbai and subsequently enrolling in Law from Siddarth College of Law. After discovering his lack of interest for Law, Sheikh became more active in college theatre activities and also went on to perform in plays with Indian People’s Theatre Association (IPTA) thereon leading to him being spotted by director Ms Sathyu who offered Sheikh his debut film in the year 1973.

Sheikh passed away on 27th December, 2013 due to a heart attack which brought a long career to standstill.

Film debut and rise to prominence ( 1973- 1980) Farooq Sheikh made his film debut in M.S Sathyu’s multilingual Hindi/Urdu social drama Garam Hawa , which had him playing a major supporting role with Balraj Sahni in the lead. The film which dealt with the issues of the mental and psychological plights of Muslim’s in the post partition period after Independence of India. The Academy Award nominated Film for Best Foreign Film in the year 1973 saw Sheikh coming up a with rock solid performances portraying the instinctive dilemmas of the oppressed character with utmost conviction. The film was a commercial and critical hit of the time and is still considered an important landmark in Indian parallel cinema movement and turned out be the dream debut for Sheikh. After a short anchoring career in Doordarsan, Sheikh was cast by maestro Satyajit Ray in Shatranj Ke Khilari, where he appeared along with an ensemble cast consisting of Sanjeev Kumar, Saeed Jaffrey, Richard Attenborough and more. Shaikh yet again went on to be a part of academy Award nominated film and was praised for restrained performance. Sheikh returned in the year 1978 playing the protagonist for the first time in the emotional drama Gaman, where he paired with Smita Patil in the lead. The movie saw Shaikh playing a villager who takes up a small job in the city only to be entrapped in the vicious circle of city life after drastic turn of events. Sheikh had his first big blockbuster through Yash Chopra’s production Noorie opposite Poonam Dhillon which panned out to be his first commercial cinema break. Array of back to back releases (1981- 1984) Sheikh went on to play one among the lead in Muzaffar Ali’s critically acclaimed Umrao Jaan along with Naseeruddin Shah and Rekha among others. Next he was seen taking a huge career leap in Sai Paranjpye’s ensemble romcom Chasme Baddhoor , where he paired with Deepti Naval and Saeed Jaffrey and Rakesh Bedi in the lead. The comedy of errors movie saw Shaikh coming up with a light hearted act, which was a revelation at the time and broke him away from the shackles of serious films to go on to be part of many more entertainer outings in the future. Sheikh was next seen in mediocre outings like Saath Saath , Bazaar and the National Award winning Assamese production Aparoopa in 1982. Sheikh had his next major break when he was cast by Hrishekesh Mukherjee in Kissi Se Na Kehna opposite Deepti Naval and Utpal Dutt, which had a good critical reaction. Next he was cast again by Sai Paranjpye in her romantic comedy Katha, where he appeared in yet another comic role “Basudev” where he played villainy over the top and cunning man whose habit of spinning yarns brings about changes in the lives of the characters played by Shah and Deepti Naval. The movie too garnered extremely positive reviews from critics and was a hit. Rang Birangi was his next venture, where he co-starred with Parveen Babi ,Utpal Dutt and Amol Palekar in the lead. The Hrishekesh Mukherjee comedy had a thunderous reception from the critics and movie goers alike and was super hit and is considered a cult classic. Farooq Sheikh came up with lead roles in mediocre outings like Ab Ayega Mazaa, Lorie ,Anjuman and Khel Mohabbat Ka all of which made him a regular face in Bollywood of the latter part of 80’s. Gradual shift to supporting roles ( 1988- Sheikh had a career low phase when he was turning up with flops like Peechha Karo , Mahananda and more on a constant basis led to his subsequent casting in supporting roles in movies like Gharwali Baharwali , Toofan with the exception of the drama Biwi Ho To Aisi which incidentally was actor Salman’s Khan Bollywood debut. The movie had Sheikh in a pivotal role and had a good response from the critics. The 1993 Ketan Mehta directorial Maya Memsaab along with ShahRukh Khan in the lead which won a National Film Award that year. Ab Insaaf Hoga came as a huge relief for Sheikh with a stunning box office run where he had a major supporting role along with Mithun Chakraborty and Rekha and marked his long overdue return to the limelight. Last works ( 2008-2014) After a hiatus from Bollywood for roughly ten years Sheikh made a comeback in the masala entertainer Saas Bahu Aur Sensex in 2008, but failed to get any attention. The year 2009 saw Sheikh coming up with the sports drama Lahore which finally fetched him a National Film Award for the first time in the supporting actor category. He came up next with Accident on Hill Road, Listen…Ammaya and Tell Me O Khuda all of which underperformed. Dibakar Banerjee’s critically acclaimed political thriller saw Sheikh in playing a key role after which he went on to play Ranbir Kapoor’s father in the coming of age blockbuster Ye Jawani He Deewani. Club 60. Children of War and Youngistaan were his last releases before death.