Daddy, Dadda, Papa, Baba, Abba, Appa...The list goes on. Fathers play a very significant role in our lives and since ‘cinema is the mirror of our society,’ Bollywood has always been in the forefront when it comes to movies portraying fatherhood.
Whether it is a stoic Manmohan Krishna, a philosophical Nasser Hussain or a victimised A K Hangal, who personified the true image of father through many decades of their stint in Hindi cinema, the fathers have always been an essential role.
However, it was only much later that Bollywood tapped the father-figure to cull out a storyline with the father-child relationship as the plot. One of the earliest films that touched upon the tender ties between a daughter and father was Anupama (1967). The Hrishikesh Mukherjee-Sharmila Tagore flick had Tarun Bose playing her bitter father, who resents her from the time she is born, as he holds her responsible for his wife’s death following childbirth.
The same decade, Mukherjee paid another ode to fatherhood with Ashirwaad (1969). The film had Ashok Kumar playing the father who yearns to see his daughter, from whom he was separated after being convicted for a crime.
It couldn’t have got more dramatic and nothing less of a cinematic grandeur when two towering film personalities Dilip Kumar and Amitabh Bachchan played father and son in Shakti (1982). The drama explored the troubled relationship between the two and the father being a dutiful cop choosing his ideals as a police officer over his smuggler son.
Daddy, starring Anupam Kher and Pooja Bhatt, was a poetic tribute. With a gripping storyline, the film had brilliant performances by Kher and Bhatt as the estranged father and daughter, struggling to come to terms with a tragic past.
The Hindi adaptation of Kramer Vs Kramer, Akele Hum Akele Tum (1995), brought to fore the problems faced by a struggling singer who loves his son beyond limits. Inspired by this movie, other movies based on the same theme were released much later like Rahul (2001).
Moving away from tear-inducing dramas, Aisi Bhi Kya Jaldi Hai (1996), was a breezy movie about an overprotective father, who is unable to accept the fact that his daughter will leave him after marriage.
The king of feel-good flicks and romantic dramas, Karan Johar, too, dwelt upon the topic in his own style with Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham, with none other than Amitabh Bachchan, Shahrukh Khan and Hrithik Roshan playing the pivotal roles. Meanwhile, The Namesake (2006), directed by Mira Nair and starring Irfan Khan and Tabu focused on the father-son relationship with a distinct subtlety interspersing it with a mix of topics like immigration, identity crisis and generation gap.
After literature, Bollywood saw fatherhood in history too. After two full-length films on Mahatma Gandhi by different filmmakers, Anil Kapoor’s production Gandhi, My Father focused on Gandhi’s troubled relationship with his son Harilal Gandhi. The film starred Darshan Jariwala as Gandhi and Akshay Khanna as his rebellious son.
More recently, Well Done Abba (2010) by Shyam Benegal is another brilliant example of a movie on fatherhood. While, Ferrari Ki Sawari (2012) depicts the life of a father who is not ready to compromise with honesty, but goes against his principles to fulfil his son’s dream.
Tamil films have always captured the different moods and roles of dads in their hues – the dad, who’s the closest to his daughter, the strict authoritarian dad and the dad who is his son’s best friend. Every era of Tamil cinema has seen major actors slip into the roles of doting fathers as visualised by their directors. Back in the 50s and 60s, if Sivaji Ganesan got into the skin of the role with ease in Paar Magale Paar as the status conscious father, S V Ranga Rao, the suave Telugu actor played some memorable roles as the girl’s father in Sabash Meena and Engal Veetu Pillai.
Anbulla Appa, starring Sivaji and Nadiya as father and daughter respectively, could possibly be classified as the movie that characterised the father in all elements. Sivaji as the doting father to a motherless child, the film was a tear-jerker and became a benchmark of sorts for films that explored a similar theme.
Mani Rathnam’s arrival heralded a new type of father – a father with a separate dimension to his character, exuding with warmth and love and an instinctive paternalism even in the face of trouble or danger. Nayagan’s Velu Nayakan was this way – his troubled relationship with his daughter, who resented his nefarious activities, notwithstanding. Raghuvaran’s role, on the other hand, as the father of a mentally-challenged child in Anjali, dwelt upon the father’s bond with his little girl, as he convinced his heart-broken wife (Revathi) to come to terms with reality.
Later on, his Kannathil Muthamittal saw Madhavan play the role of a writer-father who supports his 9-year-old adopted daughter’s quest to find her biological mother.
If Raghuvaran found himself in a new avatar after Anjali, this generation’s favourite villain, Prakash Raj, juggled both with villany and fatherhood with ease in Arindhum Ariyamamalum. As Arya’s foster dad, Raj couldn’t have been more convincing as he realises he has another son, who is his own.
However, it was Abhiyum Naanum that saw the actor in his best as the dad who is too possessive about his daughter (Trisha). His nonchalant portrayal of the helpless dad, grappling with the fear of separation from his daughter, who is about to get married, is one of the best father roles from the recent times.
Suriya’s role in Vaaranam Aayiram, a Gautham Vasudev Menon flick, projected the father as the hero and inspiration for a son. As Menon’s tribute to his own father, the film cut across generations with a whiff of pensiveness, as the son revisits some treasured moments with his father, after his death.
In the same league as Suriya, Vikram had a tryst with paternal emotions on screen in Deiva Thirumagal. Narrating the story of a mentally-challenged father who seeks custody of his daughter, the film had a well-executed emotional connect with a commendable performance by Vikram.
Most importantly, father role portrayals have marked the coming of age of Tamil cinema. What was once seen as character roles that had some fine performances by acting legends like T S Balaiah and M R Radha has gone on to become a challenge to portray for leading actors, who have executed the task with aplomb.