Google Doodle Celebrating Farouque Shaikh’s 70th Birthday

Born on March 25 in 1948, actor Farouque Shaikh grew up in Mumbai, in a simple, middle-class household. Though he studied law at college, he continued to dabble in theater on the side, and eventually decided to give acting a go.

Starting with Garam Hawa in 1973, Farouque Shaikh essayed agonizing heartbreak and light-hearted comedy with equal ease. If moviegoers fell in love with his shy smile in Chashme Buddoor, they marveled at his comedic timing in Kissi Se Na Kehna, and ached for his helplessness and loss in Bazaar.

Beyond the silver screen, Shaikh was integral to Indian theater, and his epistolary play, ‘Tumhari Amrita’ with Shabana Azmi delighted audiences for over two decades. TV audiences also loved him, be it for his humility in Jeena Isi Ka Naam Hai, or for his comic wit in Chamatkar.

Today’s Doodle by Nimit Malavia is a tribute to Farouque Shaikh’s cinematic career in a style evocative of hand-painted movie posters of the 1970s, and especially Umrao Jaan. We see the wide-eyed romantic hero of the 1970’s mature into a comfortingly familiar TV presence of the 1990’s, bridging the gap between mainstream and arthouse cinema in India along the way.

Happy 70th Birthday, Farouque Shaikh!