On-Screen Dads
As always, June features Father’s Day—while you are busy honoring and paying tribute to your daddy dearest, let’s also take a quick look at some of the top Bollywood actors who have portrayed the role of a father on-screen (list in no particular order, and, no, this list is NOT comprehensive).
1. Anupam Kher—Anupam Kher certainly knows how to excel in the role of a father. Whether it be Khosla Ka Ghosla!, Chaahat, Hum Aapke Dil Mein Rehte Hain or Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge he has always given his on-screen children reason to sing “Mera Daddy Cool Cool Cool!”
2. Alok Nath—Hum Aapke Hain Koun…!, Hum Saath-Saath Hain, Pardes, Taal and Vivah—bechaara Alok is an actor who always seems to get stuck with the role of a sensitive and worried father.
3. Amitabh Bachchan—Now here is a daddy with style and glamor, who seems to have been bagging most of the meaty father-type roles in Bollywood for the last couple of years, including Deewar, Baghban, Waqt, Baabul, Viruddh, Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham, and, of course, also Sarkar in which his real-life son, Abhishek plays his reel-life son.
4. Amrish Puri—While most of us prefer to remember him for his negative roles, let us not forget Amrish’s excellent performance in films such as Pardes and Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge, in which his negative image kept audiences wondering until the end of the film how thing would turn out.
5. Nana Patekar—Nana is an actor who has always proven his versatility whether it be through his negative performances in films such as Agni Sakshi, or his comic performance in films such as Bluffmaster. Yet, one of his most memorable and outstanding performances is that of the role of a deaf and mute father in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Khamoshi.
6. Dharmendra—How can one forget Punjab da puttar’s sweet portrayal of a father in Apne also starring apnaa Sunny and apnaa Bobby?
7. Darshan Jariwala—Darshan Jariwala’s portrayal of Gandhi in Gandhi, My Father adds a whole new dimension to Gandhi’s image as the film parallels his role as father of the nation with his role as father to Harilal (Akshaye Khanna).
8. Prithviraj Kapoor—Prithiviraj’s depiction of Mughal emperor Akbar in Mughal-e-Azam is another complex on-screen father role—the difficulty the emperor faces in maintaining his relationship with a love-struck Saleem (Dilip Kumar) and fulfilling his duty to the nation is developed fully in the film.
9. Dilip Kumar—Speaking of Dilip Kumar, it is quite interesting to see him go from being the unruly son in Mugal-e-Azam to a strict, duty-obeying police officer and the father of Amitabh Bachchan in Shakti.
10. Rishi Kapoor—Rishi’s chilled-out presentation of a father figure in Fanaa, HumTum are definitely worth a watch.
11. Pankaj Kapur—When a Hindu priest adopts a Muslim son that makes for both a fascinating film and a multifaceted on-screen relationship! In addition, equally as powerful is Pankaj Kapur’s performance in this wonderful film, Dharm.
12. Salman Khan—Now, we mustn’t forget Salman’s portrayal of an unwed father in Jab Pyaar Kisise Hota Hai and a divorced father in Jaan-E-Mann.
13. Saif Ali Khan—While I prefer to not say much about the disastrous Tararumpum, Saif’s depiction of a young father who is faced with sudden poverty is worth a brief mention in this list.
14. Ajay Devgan—Ajay’s performance of a mentally disabled father fighting for the custody of his daughter in Main Aisa Hi Hoon is also worth a lot of praise.
15. Akshay Kumar—Who says papa can’t have fun? Well, clearly, Akshay Kumar has his share of fun and mischief in Heyy Babby—that is until one day he confronted with a baby girl at his doorstep, and the film turns out to be a Heyy Daddy.
16. And, yes, the list goes on and on and on…
Tags: Alok Nath, Amitabh Bachchan, amrish puri, Anupam Kher, dharmendra, Dilip Kumar, nana patekar
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
amitabh gave a wonderful performance as a father in a very underrated heartwarming film called virruddh…..
some other good performances in father’s role..
balraj sahni : waqt
kamal hassan: hindustani , chachi 420
sanjeev kumar : trishul…sholay
aamir khan…Akele hum akele tum
dalip tahil..: QSQT
….
i would like to mention a special performance that is for me the best performance by an actor in a dad’s role
will smith in The pursuit of Happyness
You forgot SRK in Kuch Kuch Hota Hain.
in recent times, my fav is anupam kher in khosla ka ghosla. and one actor whom i love evrytime, in any kind of dad’s role is vikram ghokle.
He played a dad only once i guess (i may be wrong here) but Mehmood, i felt was quite wonderful in kunwara baap..
@Ashwin: Thanks for adding to the list! I agree–Amitabh’s performance in Virruddh was fantastic.
@Vishesh: Oops!!! And, I also forgot SRK’s performance as a father in KKKG. I suppose Sunil Shetty in Ehsaas is also worth mentioning :-)
@Phoenixnu: Yep. I think Anupam does well in pretty much any role :-) LoL, I think Vikram makes an intimidating on-screen dad.
@Ankur: Thanks for mentioning Mehmood’s performance.
Amanda…
Apologies in advance but seems you have to see a lot of films as yet..(not speaking of Black & White era..) when Talking of Anupam Kher’s performances as a daddy, I am sorry but your list of Anupam Kher is useless and is a crime if you do not include “Saaraansh”, “Daddy” and “Dil Hai ki Maanata Nahin” (and “Janam” ofc and “Dil” too)..
As for Amrish Puri is concerned, ArdhSatya should be rated as one of his finest.. So as Virasat…
Sanjeev Kumar “the father” in Koshish is simply one of the onscreen fathers to watch out for..
Alok Nath was mostly over the top, but the film got him in this “fatherly” category was “Maine Pyar Kiya”
Speaking of Amitabh, He was excellent in “Indrajeet” (specially a few scenes were top class) and “Aakhiri Rasta”
Balraj Sahni always was a great onscreen dad.. Whether its a classic like “Do Beegha Zameen” or a regular family entertainer like “Ghar Ghar ki Kahani” he was always brilliant.. Watch out him in “Garam Hawa” or “Kabuliwala” any day..
Suneel Dutt is another name that reminds me of some good fatherly performances like Munnabhai and Dard Ka Rishta
Jackie in Kaash was another good one.. Many more to recall..
@Pavan: No need to apologize :-) I really do appreciate your feedback. And, as I mentioned in my post, the list is not an attempt to be comprehensive at all, especially since I haven’t been fortunate enough to view quite a lot of films (especially from the B&W era), including many of the films/performances on the list you posted. If you think of any more interesting on-screen dads, please do add the list!
big b in kabhi kabhi…aitbar…adalat…mohabten…kank…kkkg…baghban…babul…pran in sharabi…parichay…bobby…mehmud in kunwara bap…dilip kumar in shakti…sanjiv kumar in trishul…premnath in bobby…om prakash in old julie…balraj sahni in many films…
najir husan in 100s of films…rajesh khanna in avtar…
shashi kapor in kabhi kabhi…amrish puri in ghatak…gardish…hangama…anupam kher in sansar…
A few dads I liked(on screen I mean) – anupam kher(KKG), amrish puri(gardish), Anjan shrivastav(kabhi haan..), aamir khan(akele hum..), kallumal koyle waale(chameli ki shaadi), amitabh bachchan(eklavya), and talking about film daddys, who can forget the eternal aankh mein aansoo-jaanki aaj tum zinda hoti- daddy of the 70’s – nazeer hussain. :-)
Boman Irani in Lakshya. I love that scene when HR and BI talk on the phone just before HR is suppose to go to war.
Sanjeev Kumar – Pati Patni aur Woh
Pran – Parichay
Ashok Kumar – Mili, Khubsoorat, and scores of other such
Rishi Kapoor – Namaste London (a fab performance)
Boman Irani – Munnabhai MBBS, Lage Raho and Lakshya
Shashi Kapoor – Baseraa (one of the best!!)
Premnath – Bobby
Dalip Tahil – QSQT (was a villian..but understood where he came from)
Balraj Sahni – Waqt
Shashi Kapoor – Trishul (again fab..)
Naseeruddin Shah – Masoom (the grandest!!!!!!!!)
Tushar@11 – very good example of Nazir Hussain. I like him as a dad. A bit over emotive, but very emotional. How could you miss NH of the B/W era !! I love his teaming with Kishore as a son, especially in movies like New Delhi & Apna HAath Jagannath. Other movies of this pair are Musafir, Mad Bhare Nain, Girlfriend, Suhaana Geet, Jaalsaaz, Raagini, Rungoli(VJ’s father), Ganga Ki Lehrein, Sadhu Aur Shaitaan, etc.