to revisit his lines the icing on the cake was that not a single retake was required we may have reshot owing to other actors but never for farooque shaikh despite his skill he had no airs about him he did not mind having to reshoot to accommodate other peoples slipups he said you can take as many retakes as you like he would in fact help others with their lines yet it was not as if the actor was merely swallowing all that was dished to him nischol laughs and says that before a shot was canned shaikh gave him grief asking why his character had to say or do certain things i answered all his doubts but there were times i became nervous wondering whether he had a grip of the story but when we began shooting i saw another man altogether farooque slipped into the part of shrikant so effortlessly that i asked myself if i had been imagining his doubts he laughs one particular sequence stands out in memory the director says there was a scene with actress sujata mehta who played the role of rajalakshmi she comes up to farooque and asks if he is shrikant from a certain village they had been childhood friends but he fails to recognise her and asks why she wants to know during that scene farooque was resting his hands on the armrest of the chair the shot was okayed afterwards farooque came up to me and asked if something was amiss have i got the scene right he asked i said why do you ask of course you have he said no tell me what it is your expression gives you away i gingerly said what if your arms were folded at the waist during that scene it would be more apt for that feeling of light resistance he immediately agreed and we reshot he smiled and said that feels so much better that was how sensitive farooque was to his directors vision smiles nischol in another scene shaikh expresses thankfulness to an english officer saying hindustaniyon ke dil mom ki tarah hote hain unki bhavnayein pighalke aansooon ke roop mein nikal aati hain nischol marvelled how on cue shaikh sahab began to weep copious tears without the use of glycerine it was mesmerising to watch you could make him cry all day during the shoot yet suddenly off camera he would break into a joke that had us all laughing he says like javed siddiqi before him nischol says that farooque shaikh neither drank nor entertained friends to liquor he would take us all out for food but refused to pay for drinks in fact just a month or so before his passing the shrikant alumni association as i call it was planning a reunion over lunch over time i drifted apart from all other actors that i worked with except farooque shaikh i miss him so dearly watch sohum shah to play farooque shaikhs role in