Pujya Pitaji to Dear Dad: Evolution of fathers in Bollywood
From Mughal-e-Azam's Prithviraj Kapoor to DDLJ's Amrish Puri to Dear Dad's Arvind Swamy, Bollywood has come a long way with its father characters.
In a scene in the recently released Dear Dad, starring Arvind Swamy, the protagonist visits his parents home where his mother is tending to his father (who is in a vegetative state). And he says, "I never thought I'd reach a stage in my life when just hearing your father fart would be reassuring." That one line, in that one film, tells us how far the father-child relationship has come in indigenous films. From the days of authoritarian Prithviraj Kapoor in Mughal-e-Azam, or even our plain old 'Baauji' aka Baldev Singh in DDLJ, the dynamics have undergone tectonic shifts.
Funnily enough, DDLJ was a study in extremes when it came to fathers. So you had the friendly-with-pigeons-but-intimidating-for-humans Baldev Singh on one side and on the other side you had the chirpy, colouful "Pops" who would exchange rhyming gibberish, before popping a beer with his son. With the changing times, relationships have become more and more liberal. Compare Anupam Kher's character with that of Prithviraj Kapoor's in Mughal-e-Azam, where as Emperor Akbar, he orders his son's one and only love and courtesan Anarkali to be buried alive in a wall. Imagine Salim asking Akbar to chill, and popping a beer with him? Well, how times have changed.
Amitabh Bachchan, since the turn of the millenium, has played quite a few interesting characters like the idealistic middle class bread-earner in Baghban, the cold business magnate in Kabhie Khushi Kabhi Gham (K3G), the perpetually flustered with his bowel movement - Bhaskar Banerjee in Piku. All being characters of fathers, they were hardly the same. Where the Baghban character would give his right arm for his children, the father in K3G disowns his son for marrying out of his 'status' to his character in Piku, who actively sabotages his single daughter's dates. It's interesting to note that on one hand where he is the full of pride Yash Raichand in K3G, he has also played the rock & rollin' Samarjit in Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna, who has his romps in his son's bedroom. The roles are a testament to the changing times in Bollywood.
Anupam Kher, Bollywood's main go-to actor for father roles, made his debut in the role of a father in 1984's Saraansh. Having a father as a protagonist, has only ballooned since then. Kamal Hassan is another example of the father protagonist, where he does his own spin on Mrs Doubtfire in 1998's Chachi 420. To understand the brilliance of Hassan - the actor, you just have to look at that one scene in the beginning, where he loses the custody of his child. His routine of entering his daughter's house dressed as a woman, is a strong statement for single Dads doubling up as Moms. There are the father characters in Barjataya films (primarily played by Alok Nath and Kher), who talk about sanskaars and then we see 2007's Cheeni Kum where a middle-aged woman (Tabu) 'nforms' her father (Paresh Rawal) about having the hots for a 64-year old man (Amitabh Bachchan).
Vikaramaditya Motwane's debut feature Udaan focuses on the troubled relationship of a father and a son. Ronit Roy plays the role of a tough father, who is too much of a control freak to let his children live a happy life. It is the depth of his performance, which makes his despicable character worth trying to understand. Imperfect fathers are again dealt with in Zoya Akhtar's Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara - which sees Farhan Akhtar's character look for his biological father who walked out on his mother without marrying her. When he finally meets him (Naseeruddin Shah), they have a frank discussion about how the father wasn't ready for responsibilities. He wanted to become a famous artist, travel the world, paint his heart out. Naseer's character as the father is flawed, and he doesn't make any bones about it.
Coming back to Arvind Swamy's Dear Dad, the title character takes a road-trip with his teenage son and tells him about his homosexuality. Bollywood has come a long way, and as Arvind Swamy treats his son with the maturity to understand a topic involving his sexuality, there is a general feeling that the filmmakers are treating their characters and the audience with the same maturity. Here's hoping this Father's Day, the father character will get more dimensions, where his flaws will be revealed and he will be shown as a human being. Not merely as a patriarchal figure.