Google remembers Bollywood actor Farooque Shaikh on his birth anniversary

Kolkata, Mar 25 : Renowned Bollywood actor, philanthropist and a popular television presenter Farooque Shaikh would have celebrated his 70th birthday, had he been alive.
In keeping with its tradition of honouring noted personalities from across the globe, famous search engine Google has dedicated a special 'doodle' this Sunday recognizing the actor on his 70th birth anniversary.
“Today’s Doodle by Nimit Malavia is a tribute to 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,” Google said in it’s blog post on the doodle.
Born on March 25, 1948, Shaikh was best known for his work in Hindi films from 1977 to 1989 and for his work in television between 1988 and 2002
Shaikh's film career began on a high note with the 1973 new wave film Garm Hawa, about the 1947 partition of the subcontinent at the end of British rule. His performance earned him a key role in director Satyajit Ray's Shatranj Ke Khiladi, about the decadence of India's feudal classes.
His cherubic looks struck a chord with ordinary people who tended to identify with his man on the street image.
Graduating from theatre to cinema in 1973 with MS Sathyu’s classic Garam Hava, Shaikh managed to create innumerable versions of the common man in films like Gaman (1978), Noorie (1979), Umrao Jaan (1981), Chasme Baddoor (1981), Saath Saath (1982), Bazaar (1982) ), Rang Birangi,(1983) Kissi Se Na Kehna (1983) Ek Baar Chale Aao (1983) Katha (1983) Ab Ayega Mazaa (1984) Salma (1985) Peechha Karo (1986) Biwi Ho To Aisi (1988) And Maya Memsaab (1993) . He formed a successful pair with Deepti Naval. He also did a slightly negative role in Katha
A consummate artist who was unperturbed by the platform or the length of the role, Shaikh was in fact one of the first actors to balance films and television (Srikant, Chamatkar, Ji Mantriji and Jeena Isi Ka Naam Hai, a television show he hosted where he interviewed people from all walks of life). He even returned to theatre with Tumhari Amrita that co-starred Shabana Azmi and was performed over 300 times.
In the five years before his death Shaikh acted in 8 films that largely revolved around him and he even managed to play characters in Lahore (2009) and Shanghai (2012) that one wouldn’t ideally associate with him.
His major contribution was in Parallel Cinema or the New Indian Cinema. He worked with directors like Satyajit Ray, Muzaffar Ali, Hrishikesh Mukherjee and Ketan Mehta.
He starred in close to 48 films throughout his career. He is also the reciepient of the National Award for Best Supporting Actor for the 2010 movie Lahore.
Shaikh died of a heart attack at the age of 65 in Dubai, where he was enjoying a vacation with his family, on December 28, 2013. UNI