Film industry mourns Farooq Sheikh's death

Remembering Farooq Sheikh as a "true gentleman", "cinema lover" and "foodie", film stars including Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan and Deepti Naval today mourned the sudden demise of the veteran actor in Dubai due to heart attack.

Actress Deepti Naval, a close friend and someone who worked with Sheikh in films like 'Chashme Baddoor', 'Kissi Se Na Kehna', 'Katha' and most recently 'Listen Amaya', said she is yet to come to terms with the sad news.

"I am shocked... Deeply shattered. I can't talk right now. I am in Himachal Pradesh and I am leaving for Mumbai immediately," an emotional Naval told PTI.

"For me he was one of the finest actors in Hindi film industry. It is heartbreaking."

Sarika, who starred with him in his last film 'Club 60', said he was in good health during their last meeting.

"It is shocking because he looked well when we last met about 10 days back. He seemed fine. We joked and chatted. He was a brilliant actor that goes without saying but he was a great man, a true gentleman. He loved good food and we all were planning to meet up and eat out," Sarika told PTI.

Megastar Amitabh Bachchan remembered Sheikh as a "true gentleman", who had a "quiet honesty" about himself.

"God!! Farooq Sheikh passes away!!? A true gentleman, a wonderful colleague! A quiet honesty about him. Very very sad !," tweeted Bachchan.

Shah Rukh, who worked with Sheikh in 'Maya Memsaab', regretted not spending enough time with the actor.

"Faroukh Sahib... Allah bless your soul. You are dearly loved and missed. My biggest regret that I never got to spend time with you, Farouqh sahib, as I had requested. Should have done it earlier. I feel so sorry," SRK wrote on Twitter.

Actress Shabana Azmi, a close friend a co-star, said she got to know about the news when Sheikh's wife called her around 3.30am in the morning.

"Farooq has been a very close friend of mine. We have been around together since college days. Forty-years ago he and I started a theatre group. It was a very long association so it is difficult to speak about his death," Azmi said.