Father's Day: From Anupam Kher to Swanand Kirkire, five cool dads of Hindi cinema

Fathers of today have ceased to be towering figures of authority. They have shattered the glass wall that exists between two generations which allowed them to only see and not feel each other. But Hindi cinema has time and again reflected that one cool dad who has proved that times are changing and the definition of fatherhood is changing with that. On the occasion of Father’s Day, Firstpost looks back at five memorable cool dad roles in recent memory: Anupam Kher in Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge 1995 was a watershed moment in the portrayal of fathers on the silver screen. Aditya Chopra juxtaposed two iconic dads against each other in Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge. While Amrish Puri’s character symbolised the authoritative father who imposes his will on his daughters, Anupam Kher played an exaggerated version of the new age dad who celebrates when his son fails his exams. The fact that Puri’s character lets go of his daughter in the climax established the fact that there was no longer space for conservative fathers on celluloid.  Kamal Haasan in Chachi 420 In this 1997 film, Haasan went to the extent of turning himself into a 60 plus woman, fondly called Chachi, just to get close to his daughter whose custody was with his estranged wife. He disguised himself as the new caretaker of his daughter, played by Fatima Sana Shaikh, and indulged in some mischievous moments with her right under the nose of Tabu, who played the mother.  Amitabh Bachchan in Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna It takes guts, and barrels of immunity to embarrassment, to womanise at a time when your son is having a troubled married life. But where Bachchan completely owned the character was in still coming across as cool. His character of Sexy Sam, in this 2006 Karan Johar romantic drama, was part frivolous, part philosophical and thus, immensely fascinating.  Farrukh Sheikh in Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani A father’s role is often that of an archer. He has to pull his arrow, that is his child, tightly towards himself. But he also has to let him go for the child to hit the bull’s eye. Sheikh, through his understated act, brought this dilemma to fore as Ranbir Kapoor’s father in this 2013 Ayan Mukerji romantic comedy. While he related to Kapoor’s idea of a life dominated by ‘raftaar’ (speed), his fatherly instincts would not allow him to completely detach himself from his ambitious son.  Swanand Kirkire in Badrinath Ki Dulhania Kirkire played a middle class father to two daughters and hence carried the self-imposed burden of saving money all his life to get them married. But at the same time, he was aware of how free-spirited his daughter, played by Alia Bhatt, was. That is why he could never get himself to shout and was only seen frowning in crisis. His act of putting his desires aside for the greater good of his daughter exposed his sensitive side which he rarely let surface. Because dads don’t talk. A salute to the silent heroes this Father’s Day!  All pictures from Twitter.