I vividly remember my first meeting with Farooque Shaikh. It was

The actress and poet Deepti Naval, a luminous presence in Indian cinema, once recalled: “I vividly remember my first meeting with Farooque Shaikh. It was in 1975. I had just returned from New York after completing my graduation and was looking for opportunities to begin a career as an actor.” What may seem at first glance a gentle reminiscence is, in truth, a window into the birth of an era — the moment when two kindred souls met and unknowingly began to shape the landscape of Indian parallel cinema. In her words lie the tenderness of memory, the reverence for beginnings, and the recognition that certain encounters alter not just one’s path, but one’s very destiny.

To remember vividly one’s first meeting with another is not merely to recall a moment, but to honor its power. For Naval, this was no ordinary meeting — it was the convergence of two artists whose hearts beat with honesty, simplicity, and truth. Farooque Shaikh was already emerging as a new kind of actor — one who embodied realism, warmth, and vulnerability in a time when cinema often worshipped glamour and grandeur. Deepti, newly returned from New York, carried within her the freshness of discovery, the hunger of a seeker, and the courage to dream in a world that was just beginning to open to women of thought and spirit. Their meeting in 1975 was the spark that would ignite a partnership in films like Chashme Buddoor and Katha — stories that celebrated the ordinary lives of extraordinary souls.

But beyond its cinematic value, her reflection holds a deeper truth: that the moments that define our lives rarely announce themselves. They arrive quietly, wrapped in the everyday — a conversation, a handshake, a glance across a crowded room — and yet, from them, the entire course of our destiny may unfold. Like the artist who paints a single stroke that will guide every color after it, life too begins with small beginnings that only time reveals as sacred. Deepti’s words remind us that we often recognize the importance of a meeting only in hindsight — that destiny often whispers before it declares.

There is an ancient echo in her story. When Michelangelo first met his mentor, Lorenzo de’ Medici, he was merely a boy sketching in the shadows of Florence. That meeting, humble and chance as it seemed, would give the world its greatest sculptor. The same truth lived in 1975 when Deepti Naval met Farooque Shaikh — two souls prepared by their journeys, one returning from foreign lands, the other rooted in quiet strength. Together, their art would give voice to a generation seeking sincerity amidst spectacle. Thus, her quote is not only about memory but about fate recognizing itself in another person.

Her words also reveal the courage of returning home after education abroad — the transition from learning to becoming. In that moment, she stood between two worlds: one of structured study and one of uncertain creation. Every seeker who dares to leave the safety of preparation for the wilderness of purpose knows this threshold. To “look for opportunities” is not simply to search for work, but to step into the unknown armed only with belief. The wisdom here is that beginnings demand humility — the willingness to start again, even after mastering something else.

The lesson, then, is timeless: that every encounter, every return, every uncertain beginning carries within it the seed of transformation. When you stand at the doorway of newness, do not dismiss the people you meet — for they may be the hands through which destiny shapes you. Seek connection, not convenience; purpose, not perfection. Be present, for the first chapter of greatness often begins in an ordinary moment you will one day “vividly remember.”

And so, let the words of Deepti Naval endure as both remembrance and teaching: “I vividly remember my first meeting with Farooque Shaikh.” For in that meeting was not just the beginning of two acting careers, but the joining of two spirits devoted to truth and art. Let it remind every seeker that life unfolds through encounters — that one conversation can change everything, that one moment of courage can awaken a lifetime of purpose. Cherish beginnings, for they are the quiet seeds from which eternity blooms.