NEWSMAKERS
One at a time
SUNIL PATEL
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With rave reviews for his role in “Saas Bahu Aur Sensex”, actor Farooque Shaikh talks about his 11-year hiatus from the silver screen and his future plans.
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“It’s a very light and clean comedy... the kind that Kundan Shah and Sai Paranjpe used to make.”
Photo: Mohammed Yousuf
Farooque Shaikh was a born rebel. Born in a zamindari family, he preferred to dine and drink with the people called untouchables in his village near Baroda. He stopped practising as a lawyer to work MS Sathyu’s “Garam Hawa” and then in Satyajit Ray’s “Shatranj Ke Khiladi”.
Moving away
Beginning with moving away from his father’s profession, it’s no wonder he began to rebel in films too. He moved way from the usual beat of being linked to his heroines and led a straight life. He didn’t want much glory from his movies; so he did theatre, television and even radio shows with Ameen Sayani and Vinod Sharma in his effort not to tread the beaten path. Now he has decided to return to the cinema that gave him recognition; but after 11 long years.
“‘Saas Bahu And Sensex’, has two simultaneous tracks. One is the domestic life of the female characters in the film and the other is when they take a chance and invest in the stock market. My character is seen in the second track. I am a stock broker who is an expert in his job and wants to work honestly. But he has a weakness; he gets irritated and flustered when there are women around. And look at his fate. A group of women now barge into his office and thrust themselves upon him,” he rattles off all in one breath... seemingly excited about the film.
A major reason why Farooque decided to do the film was also the fact that the producers are the very people who produced “Chashme Baddoor” long ago. “I’ve known them for a very long time. Also director Shona Urvashi had approached me for a role in her first film “Chup Ke Se”, but unfortunately I couldn’t do it. This time when she gave me the script, I felt that the role was good, and I was willing to work with Shona as well. I am happy that I did agree to a film like this,” says Farooque.
Why this one
What made him take up a project like this? “It’s a very light and clean comedy. The whole family can watch the film together without being embarrassed. It’s the kind of comedy that Kundan Shah and Sai Paranjpe used to make," he says.
But why the long lull, we persist. “I took a break from films because I was doing television. I am not the kind of person who would work day in and day out. I am not a workaholic. Whatever I do is done whole heartedly and hence I couldn’t do both TV and films at the same time so I chose to take a break from films,” he admits candidly. “Now, I am back. I will be doing films from now on. At the moment, I have no plans to get back to television,” he avers.
But then, for Farooque, there won’t be much of the movie variety too, thanks to his self-confessed laziness.
“I won’t be doing films one after the other but, yes, I am back. I have a guest appearance in a movie called ‘Lahore’. The film is all about sports between India and Pakistan. Again, let us see if the audience is able to tolerate me. This year it’s only this film,” he says.
One would have expected a man who has worked with heroines like Poonam Dhillon in “Noorie”, Rekha in “Umrao Jaan” and “Biwi Ho To Aisi”, Smita Patil in “Gaman”, Deepti Naval in “Chashme Baddoor” to be a little more ambitious, but not Farooque Shaikh.
“I have played all kinds of characters. I have done serious roles earlier and even tele-serials like Srikant. But people prefer me in comedy,” he admits.
Route not taken
But not many know that if this man had wanted to take a certain route, he would have been elsewhere.
Farooque Shaikh was one of the two best cricketers from his school and was coached by the legendary Vinoo Mankad. At St Xavier’s college, one of Shaikh’s closest friends was Sunil Manohar Gavaskar.
We leave you with Farooque’s favourite refrain, “I do not want to be remembered after I am gone!”
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