The Living Legend-Farooq Shaikh

Farooq Shaikh was born on March 25, 1948. Farooq is an Indian actor, who did most of his films during the 1970s and 1980s. Farooq Shaikh's major contribution was in Parallel Cinema or New Indian Cinema. Farooq has worked with directors like Satyajit Ray, Muzaffar Ali, Hrishikesh Mukherjee and Ketan Mehta.

He went to St Mary’s School, Mumbai and then to St. Xavier's College, Mumbai. Farooq studied Law at Siddharth College of Law. He attended the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune.

In Shaikh's early days, he was active in theatre, doing plays with IPTA and with well-known directors like Sagar Sarhadi. Farooq's first major film role was in the 1973 film Garam Hawa. One can never forget his wonderfully inspired performance in the hit comedy Chashme Baddoor, which was to pave the way for his later roles in sitcoms on television.

He went onto act in several notable films such as Shatranj Ke Khiladi (1977), Noorie (1979), Chashme Buddoor (1981) and Kissi Se Na Kehna (1983).

In the 1990s Farooq acted in fewer films and made his last few film appearance in Mohabbat (1997) and Saas Bahu Aur Sensex (2008). Currently he made his comeback with the film Lahore (2009). Farooq has indeed come a long way.