Bollywood’s depiction of the stereotypical Indian father has always managed to entertain us. Whether he’s laidback, happy-go-lucky, sick or just annoyingly strict, we’ve loved them for the myriad of emotions they’ve evoked in us. Here are some of the most sought-after on-screen dads that we’ve grown up watching
Aloknath as ‘Tara Babu’
If there’s anything that really made Taal a feel-good movie, it’s Tara Babu’s relationship with Mansi (played by Aishwarya Rai). Despite being strict, Tara Babu was super supportive of his daughter’s career and life choices. You go TB!
Amrish Puri as ‘Baldev Singh’
Amrish Puri was the ultimate definition of Dadzilla in DDLJ; every time he looked at someone with his pair of scorned peepers, that person just died a little. Although we hated his guts throughout the film, he won us over at the end with his iconic line, ‘Jah Simran, Jah. Jee le apni zindagi!’
Amitabh Bacchan as ‘Yash Raichand’
Leave it to AB Sr to give you the best of love, anger, ambition and of course PARAMPARA…*echoes*
No one played the affluent snob dad better than Amitabh. After disowning his eldest not to mention adopted son Rahul (SRK) in K3G, he was secretly suffering from an existential crisis. Talk about tough love! Even today, the final scenes of the film find a way to tug at our heartstrings.
Ronit Roy as ‘Bhairav Singh’
Sometimes the relationship between children and their fathers may not be all sunshine and butterflies. Ronit Roy as Bhairav Singh has shown us just that in Udaan where he plays the role of a negligent abusive and alcoholic father. Believe us when we say that this is one dad we’ve thoroughly enjoyed hating.
Kamal Haasan as Jaiprakash Paswan/Lakshmi Godbole
Father by day and a nanny by night, Jaiprakash is indeed what you’d call a Super Dad. When a divorce costs him the custody of his daughter, he invests in a sari, a fake pair of bosoms and of course makeup, to get close to the apple of his eyes. Now that’s what you call #dadgoals!
Anupam Kher as ‘Pops’
While Baldev was giving death stares to Simran, Anupam Kher as Pops was busy making terrible jokes with Raj. Throughout the film he was more of a friend to his son than a dad, which explains why Raj was so darn comfortable about his personal life with ol’ Pops.
Shah Rukh Khan as ‘Rahul Khanna’
When his 8 year old daughter Anjali, ran off to summer camp, Rahul instead of flipping his lid, like most normal dads, went off to search this grand nonsense of a daughter. Had we done that to our parents we’d get a good whooping! Luckily for Anjali, Rahul was a sweet, clueless dude who was just figuring out the ropes of being a single dad.