Remembering Parallel Cinema's blue eyed boy - Farooq Sheikh

With his boy-next-door persona and understated style, Farooq Sheikh made his entry into films at a
time when the parallel art cinema was making its presence felt and he went on to
work in some of the best movies of that era.

Sheikh passed away in Dubai late last night
after a heart attack. He is survived by wife Rupa and daughters Shaista and
Sanaa.

As someone who trained as a lawyer, Sheikh came to acting after
failing to relate to his profession in law. Theatre was something that he was already doing in college.

Sheikh made an
impressive debut with MS Sathyu's 'Garm Hawa', one of the greatest movies ever
made on Partition. He often joked that he did the film for a princely sum of
rupees 750.

He played the youngest son of Balraj Sahni in the movie that depicted the
dilemma of a Muslim businessman who decides to stay in India even though the
political -social climate is not very supportive and half of his family has
already moved to Pakistan.

Sheikh was born into a 'zamindar' family near Baroda
in 1948. He was the eldest son of his lawyer father Mustafa Shaikh. The family moved to the then
Bombay as his father
had a successful practice, which in part, prompted Sheikh to take up law
initially.

He met his wife Rupa during his college. They were very
active in theatre during their college days.

Sheikh's performance in
'Garm Hawa' attracted the attention of Satyajit Ray. Ray cast Sheikh in the role of Aqeel in 'Shatranj Ke Khiladi'.

The actor along
with Shabana
Azmi, Smita
Patil, Om Puri,
Naseeruddin and DeeNaval was instrumental in keeping the parallel cinema
movement alive in the '70s and '80s.

His most notable films of that era
include Ray's 'Shatranj Ke Khiladi', 'Noorie', 'Chashme Buddoor', 'Kissi Se Na
Kehna', 'Katha', 'Umrao Jaan', 'Faasle' and Sagar Sarhadi's 'Bazaar'.