Farooq Sheikh:मेरी भूली बिसरी यादें

 तुमको देखा तो ये खयाल आया

जिंदगी धूप, तुम घना साया

आज फिर दिल ने एक तमन्ना की

आज फिर दिल को हम ने समझाया

तुम चले जाओगे तो सोचेंगे

हमने क्या खोया हमने क्या पाया

हम जिसे गुनगुना नहीं सकते

वक़्त ने ऐसा गीत क्यों गाया

I fondly remember him being the quintessential gentleman host in Jeena isi ka naam hai.With his witty lines and sly humor and his command of Urdu Zubaan he seemed to pluck the right strings at right times. A child viewer like me was engrossed in those moments where he opened the lives of celebrities bit by bit and string by string.Perhaps the enigma of a celebrity started to open up for me with those episodes,their humanness was exposed with extreme surgical expertise.I still have few episodes etched in my memory.

Though if I try to remember him precisely,the first time I saw him was on Sony Television on a show called Chamatkar.It was actually a comic series where he had  a superpower of listening to distant voices.Entangled in his ear problem and his ability to listen strangely to people,he would fall into situations which were not hysterical but aukwardly comic.I think I still tend to like the situational and sly comedy more than the slapstic ones,credit goes to series like filmy chakkar,hum paanch,tu tu main main,sarabhai vs sarabhai,office office,chamatkar which we as 90's kids watched.There was another very famous series under his belly called Jee Mantriji-a political satire,but precisely because I was a kid and I did not relate to politics at that time,I don't remember watching it much.

When it comes to his films I have seen many but what remains close to my heart is Chashme Buddoor.I kind of like people who have layers,but are simple on the surface.Kind of relates me to myself.The situational comedy in the movie and the bachelorhood bromance remains contemporary to present days.Even today if you watch the movie you will find a kind of freshness in the scenes and the acting.Perhaps the USP of the man was his demeanor and his dialogue delivery,a very aam aadmi like persona and a groundedness which never allowed him to have an over the top kind of performance.Few scenes like the Chamko detergent demo or the pan waala encounter on the Delhi street gumti are epic ones.The new Chashme Buddoor was no where close to creating any feeling of nostalgia or high at all.

Apart from the few epic ones like Umrao Jaan,Bazaar,Gaman,Saath Saath and Noorie which were among the potshots of 80's parallel cinema;he was also very active in the radio and the theater circuit.I fondly remember one of his radio shows on Gandhi,it kind of became a daily routine to listen to him when I was travelling to my office.But to be honest what I really relate and reminisce about his earlier movies are the songs picturized on him.It has more to do with Jagjit singh,Chitra,Lata Mangeshkar and Suresh Wadekar being the part of his movies.But he has done justice to all the songs.My love for Jagjit Singh and the songs he rendered in the 80's must be accredited with the way Farooq saab acted in few of those songs.I still prefer to watch the video version than the audio ones.Few songs which I consider very close to my heart are Tumko Dekha to Yeh Khayal Aaya,Ye tera ghar ye mera ghar:Jagjit and chitra Singh,Dikhayi Diye yun,Phir Chiddi Raat,Aaja re o mere dilbar aaja:Lata Mangeshkar,Seene Me Jalan :Suresh Wadekar. Another song which essentially is popular because of Rekha is In aankhon ki masti ke.And I must say if I can die for those eyes of Rekha,or the संजीदगी of Deepti Naval I can certainly vouch for the subtlety in the eyes and voice of Farooq saab.

सीने में जलन, आँखों में तूफ़ान सा क्यों है

इस शहर में हर शख्स परेशान सा क्यों है

दिल है तो धड़कने का बहाना कोई ढूंढें

पत्थर की तरह बेहिस-ओ-बेजान सा क्यों है

तनहाई की ये कौनसी मंज़िल है रफीकों

ता-हद-ए-नजर एक बयाबान सा क्यों है

क्या कोई नयी बात नज़र आती है हम में

आईना हमे देख के हैरान सा क्यों है

शायद  कुछ ऐसी ही लाइन्स  के साथ दिल पसीजता है कई बार दिल्ली की गलियों में। अल्लाह हाफ़िज़ फारूक साब। आपकी रूह की खुशबू बदस्तूर महक बिखेरती रहती है मेरे मन के दरीचों में। जन्नत की महफ़िलों को रोशन करते रहें.
PS: Birthday Memoir.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farooq_Sheikh