Down Memory Lane
19th March was Sai Paranjape's birthday.
Today 25th is the late Farooque Sheikh's 74th Birth Anniversary.
One's mind goes back to
1981 and 1982-83 when both worked together as Director Actor in Chashme Baddoor and Katha.
Farooque Sheikh :
In the cookie-cutter world of mainstream Hindi cinema, actors need stock ingredients to deliver salable performances. Farooque Shaikh was never on the list.
Farooque Shaikh’s untimely death at the age of 65 on December 27, 2013, has left a void in Indian cinema that still hasn’t been filled. After working in theatre, Shaikh got his first break in MS Sathyu’s landmark film Garm Hava (1973),
Labelled as a serious actor Farooque Shaikh found his comic groove with Sai Paranjpye’s Chashme Baddoor (1981), a delightful tale of three room mates who fall for the same woman, Neha (Deepti Naval). This was the first time that Shaikh and Naval were cast together, and the two went on to become one of the most charming on-screen pairs in the ’80s.
This was followed by Katha by the same team a year later..
Shaikh’s crowning glory was this brilliant turn as the boastful and gregarious Bashudev (Bashu) in Katha ; When Bashu comes to live with the shy and timid Rajaram Joshi (Naseeruddin Shah), his shenanigans turned life in the once-peaceful chawl upside down. Bashu is the proverbial hare to Joshi’s tortoise, beating him to woo Sandhya (Deepti Naval). The shameless and unrepentant Bashu, who juggles his relationship with Sandhya with an affair with his boss’s wife (Mallika Sarabhai) while also flirting with her daughter Jojo (Winnie Paranjpe), is easy to detest. Instead, Shaikh makes him irresistible.
Both these films are remembered even today for their clean and light comic approach.
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