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Love Is…Playing Football With Your Students!
He is one of our more intelligent film stars who also happens to be an alert citizen.
When Farooque Sheikh speaks on any subject – from the rights of actors to the roads of Mumbai – people listen, as will ‘edutopia’, as Sheikh shares with Dilip Patel, the memories of a Principal who lives on in his heart.
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Farooque Sheikh
We all know that Farooque Sheikh is an actor par excellence. His unique style of presenting the lives of the glitterati in a TV programme called ‘Jeena Isika Naam Hai’ does deliver a lesson or two on human relationships, and we all enjoy that.
Some of his movies of yester year, Garam Hawa, Shatranj Ke Khiladi, Gaman, and a few more in a lighter vein, have become collectors’ treasures.But what is lesser known is that he is a qualified lawyer and wanted to practice criminal law (that is, if he had not gone into theatre and acting). As a student, he too aspired to be a cricketer; and though his four-year classmate Sunil Gavaskar got selected at the Vinoo Mankad Camp, he did not. He also at one time, wanted to be a pilot and join the National Defence Academy but his mother came in his way! Above all, he is a highly informed person, an avid reader, genuinely concerned about the next generation, and a fine human being. Farooque went to St. Mary’s High School, Bombay (now Mumbai) between 1955 and 1965. It was my great pleasure to interact with him, drawing him down memory lane to talk about his school days and his Principal who has left an indelible impression on him. He pays a tribute to his Principal, Father D. Donnelly, and all the Principals in the world through this conversation, for he believes that Principals can play an important role in shaping the characters of their pupils.
In search of new role models
As society becomes more materialistic and technology more freely available, the moral dilemma of the students increases. It is here that if a student is on a weak wicket of his own value system that the schools come under flak. Farooque is concerned too. He believes the role of the schools should be slightly modified under the present circumstances. He feels that both, the family on one side, and the school on the other, should work in coordination. He also feels that the role models of children must shift from sports and film personalities to people of high moral values like Dr. Abdul Kalam. A very humble thought and gesture by someone from the film fraternity itself. But then that is what makes Farooque Sheikh one of the most respected actors in the industry
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