mumbai often when shekhar suman misses his friend farooque shaikh he leafs through a colourful bouquet of handwritten letters that shaikh had despatched to his house over the years these are short personal messages complimenting him for various performances or awards each is like a flower that marks a special milestone in their warm relationship shaikh sahabs 67th birth anniversary will be observed wednesday march 25 suman spoke at length to toi about the artiste who was senior yet never patronizing informal yet respectful jovial yet dignified both had a flair for comedy in fact even their shows movers shakers and jeena isi ka naam hai started around the same time in 2002 but each was secure in his skin the two were also neighbours in lokhandwala complex andheri they acted together first in the television serial aahaa directed by himesh reshammiya then in the remarkable telefilm hindola where their nuanced rivalry for smita jayakars affections touched new heights of creativity suman says often when i saw farooque shaikh the first thought that crossed my mind was whats a nice man like him doing in films aise adab tehzeeb wale insaan apart from mr bachchan there are few people like that in the industry i remember seeing his film bazaar with my family when i was still a young student main bohot mutaassir hua farooque sahab was a nice actor he had a natural flair for the art unke chehre pe sharafat likhi hui thi then i saw chashme buddoor garm hawa umrao jaan and i rather enjoyed ab ayega mazaa where pankuj parashar directed him and anita raj he was an artiste who brought something different to the screen such command over language one of the best actors we have like naseer there are those who feel naseer is the best we have but people often fall victim to perception i have seen films in which farooque sahab acted with him and i believe he matched him step for step he stood his ground apni jagah banayi farooque sahab and suman played brothers in a television serial named aahaa which was directed by himesh reshammiya it was a mad comedy where he was married to farha and shashikalaji was the matriarch of the family we had a nice setup that was the time farooque sahab surprised me with his comic timing his sense of humour and mine matched so well we would collapse in helpless laughter while shooting as each of us made some spontaneous remark that was not in the script several retakes were lost in this manner suman says do you know he would send handwritten letters to me it was such an honour to receive these handdelivered notes i cherish them so much farooque sahab lavished praise if he appreciated a performance he wrote to say he enjoyed my work in reporter and movers shakers i was his junior in the industry yet he generously sent warm appraisals and bouquets of flowers he recalls