Anupam Kher: The father figure we all love!

Anupam Kher has played the cool, fun, and strict father we have all grown up watching and loving in Bollywood films to a point where we've wanted him as our dad too.

Other than Amrish Puri as the villainous father or Alok Nath as the innocent one, there's one more face we can't help but see in our minds when we think of a a father figure - Anupam Kher! Most kids who grew up in the 90s have seen this star play the father to many actors like Shah Rukh Khan, Madhuri Dixit, Rani Mukerjee, Sushant Singh Rajput, and more. The power of his acting skills is such that he can slip into any role with his versatility but his father figure roles are the ones that left such a lasting impression on our minds!  

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His most popular 'father' characters are these extremely cool, fun, understanding, and friendly fathers who are the life and soul of these films. The way he helps and is proud of SRK in DDLJ and has a fun relationship with Kuljeet's aunt made him the ultimate urban picture of a father. Similarly, as the father of two daughters, Madhuri Dixit, and Rani Mukherjee, in separate films in Hum Aapke Hai Kaun and KKHH, he understands his role and duty. Still, he never stops having fun with them or other people around him. He paints a picture of a father who raises independent, free-thinking girls! 

Anupam Kher has essayed these roles with such honesty that he makes you laugh out loud, dance, and create drama with him, almost making you wish you had a father just like him in your life, too! In contrast, he also played some strict, hard, villainous sort of father, like the one in Kaho Na Pyaar Hai who orders Hrithik Roshan to be killed or in Rang De Basanti, where he is a corrupt businessman helping a politician, killed by his own son. These times, we loved to hate him, too! 

But his role as a helpless father helped by a son in Khosla ka Ghosla, a grieving father in Saaransh, a lower middle-class father of an exceptionally talented cricketer in MS Dhoni or a father who cares about his son's future in Wake Up Sid brought out very different aspects of fatherhood and what it means to be a father. 

Over the years, Anupam Kher has played many memorable, iconic small roles in films that made him stand out. This has led to him doing so much work and a lot of this speaks about various issues, especially old age. No wonder those fictional father figures didn't just move us but became inspirational figures for fatherhood. That is why, watching him play these father figure roles has been an honor and a delight! 

Happy Birthday to the 'Bollywood Father' we all love! 

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