 "Chashme Buddoor")
GARAM HAWA (1973)
MS Sathyu's pathbreaking film not only heralded the art cinema movement in the country but also gave the film industry one of it's most restrained and versatile actors in Farooq Shaikh. Garam Hawa, a film about the struggles of a Muslim family that chooses to stay back in India after Partition, continues to be applauded for the the acting prowess of the young debutant Shaikh, who proved to be an even match for veteran Balraj Sahni. "I wanted to cast someone new for the role of Balraj's youngest son. The innocence of Farooq's face was necessary for the role, and so he made a perfect fit," said Sathyu in an interview recently.
GAMAN (1978)
This film, which marked the directorial debut of Muzaffar Ali, saw Shaikh play a frustrated migrant who moves from Uttar Pradesh to Mumbai to earn a living as a taxi driver.
In a 2004 interview to Verve, Shaikh spoke at length about his role in Gaman: "I didn't know who Muzaffar Ali was….I liked the sensibility, so I agreed to do the film…. I was playing a cabbie, but I was such a bad driver that once I put my foot on the accelerator, I forgot to take it off. After a couple of crashes, poor Muzaffar would crawl into the taxi, lie down under my feet and operate the clutch and the brakes from there!"
CHASHME BUDDOOR (1981)
Before Dil Chahta Hai there was Chashme Buddoor, the original buddy film in Bollywood. Shaikh, was a perfect fit as the shy and studious Siddharth Parashar whose restraint acts as the perfect foil to the boisterousness of Omi and Jomo, played effortlessly by Rakesh Bedi and Ravi Baswani. And who can forget the scene where Shaikh confesses his love for Deepti Naval's Neha over tutti-frutti and coffee. In his trademark unassuming style, Shaikh refused to take even a miniscule share of credit for the film's success. In an interview, he said, "She (Sai Paranjpye, the director) had a great eye for detail, for picking up the commonness of life and celebrating that."
BAZAAR (1982)
Directed by Sagar Sarhadi, the film brought together actors like Shaikh, Naseeruddin Shah, Supriya Pathak and Smita Patil, who became the faces of the parallel cinema movement in the 1980s. Bazaar brought to the fore the tragedy of young Muslim girls who were sold off by poverty-stricken parents to affluent Indians in the Gulf. The transition from a sombre migrant in Gaman, the shy guileless guy in Chashme Buddoor to an innocent young man in love once again marked Shaikh's versatility. Bazaar is also known for its brilliant ghazals, especially Phir chiddi raat phoolon pi, sung by Talat Aziz and Lata Mangeshkar, picturised on Pathak and Shaikh.
KATHA (1983)
The Farooq Shaikh-Sai Paranjpye magic worked yet again with this film - a reinterpretation of the classic folktale of the hare and the tortoise. Shaikh as the slick, lovable con man and outrageous flirt Vashudev perfectly complemented Naseeruddin Shah as the simpleton Rajaram Purushottam Joshi. The duo created characters you could relate to, without seeming outlandish. In a recent interview to NDTV, Paranjpye recalled the playful one-upmanship throughout the making of Katha: "The teasing and ribbing between these two stalwarts was so precious. Farooq would say, 'If Naseer and I are in a shot, then it would be Naseer's back to the camera.'"
