In Piku, Amitabh Bachchan Plays Deepika Padukone’s On-Screen Dad. Here’s Why Big B Is Bollywood’s Daddy Cool

The much-awaited teaser of Shoojit Sircar’s Amitabh Bachchan, Deepika Padukone and Irrfan Khan starrer Piku has been released. It is barely 30 seconds long and doesn’t reveal anything about the film. All we know is that Amitabh has once again been cast as Deepika’s father, after Aarakshan.

We, for one, are very excited to see Big B in his Piku avatar. He looks very cute and we know that he will make a great on-screen dad. The actor has played the ‘father’ role in quite a few films now and has always managed to steal the show.

Amitabh is not like your run-of-the-mill senior actors. The dad roles that he has portrayed have been very different and fresh, and they have not been repetitive. Don’t believe us? Read on as we compare five major films in which the Shahenshah of Bollywood has taken on the role of a father and ensured that things don’t get mundane.

Mohabbatein (2000)

In this musical romance, Amitabh played the role of Narayan Shankar, a strict father who has lost his only daughter (Aishwarya Rai Bachchan) to suicide. This was not an easy role, and we really don’t think anyone else could have managed to essay a role with so many shades and complexities. Amitabh’s job was tough – he had to play a character that we feel both sympathy and hatred for. He managed it, and how! This was not your typical Bollywood father who doesn’t approve of his daughter’s lover and locks her in a room. Amitabh took a role that has probably been played a million times before and changed it completely by adding his special touch.

He was seen in a similar role in Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham (2001). Here’s, he alienates his son (Shah Rukh Khan) because he marries by choice. Once again, Amitabh’s brilliant performance did not make us groan with boredom. The role might have been commonplace, but Big B’s portrayal of it was not.

Baghban (2003)

Ravi Chopra’s Baghban is one of the most sensitive and thought-provoking films that Bollywood has ever produced. Amitabh played Raj Malhotra, a doting father who learns the hard way that pinning all his post-retirement hopes on his children was a disastrous thing to do. This was not a new role. Over the years, there have been lots of films where children mistreat their parents and then see the error of their ways when the film ends. What set Baghban apart were Amitabh and his performance.

Here, he was not Narayan Shankar or Yashvardhan Raichand, so he didn’t try to dominate his children. The softhearted Raj Malhotra takes life as it comes and eventually succeeds in turning things around. Even when Raj rejects his sons as the film ends, we feel nothing but sympathy and actually root for him. Rajesh Khanna played a similar role in Avtaar (1983), and some even say that Baghban was inspired from the film, but he couldn’t pull it off this well. We did feel that he was being a tad bit unfair and pricey.

Sarkar (2005)

Yes, Big B’s role in Sarkar was inspired from that of Marlon Brando in The Godfather. In fact, the whole film was inspired. That, however, does not discount the fact that Amitabh played the titular role just as well as Brando did in. In fact, thanks to his ability to act with his eyes alone, Amitabh actually added more shades to the character of a father who has to deal with a son who is irresponsible, letchy and selfish (Kay Kay Menon). This is the son who is supposed to be his successor and then there is a sensitive, upright, US-returned son (Abhishek Bachchan) in the mix. Big B’s role in Sarkar was complex. He was not a typical, loving father…he was someone who called a spade a spade and didn’t shy away from being ruthless, even when he’s dealing with his own flesh and blood.

Amitabh played the role of a father who battles contradicting emotions for his son in Family – Ties of Blood (2006) as well. Although the film didn’t do well, his portrayal of Viren Sahai was applauded.

Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna (2006)

Amitabh again played father to his real-life son Abhishek Bachchan in KANK. His role as Samarjeet Talwar (Sam) was short but it is through him that the story moves forward and takes a drastic turn. The role is again a complex one. Sam’s morals are questionable but he is, at the end of the day, a father and father in law and has to assume the responsibility of his family and ensure that no one gets hurt. Usually, this role would be considered hypocritical and anyone playing it would be viewed in the same light. Not Amitabh though. Despite all the colourful antics, we really believe that he is looking out for his loved ones. His character is that of an unconventional dad, someone most people wouldn’t consider an “ideal parent”, but when the time comes, he shines as the perfect father and father figure.

Satyagraha (2013)

In Prakash Jha’s2013 political drama, Amitabh was a grieving father whose only son (Indraneil Sengupta) was stealthily murdered and he kept running from pillar to post to get justice. There was nothing new about this. Anupam Kher played a very similar role in Saaransh and was brilliant. For Amitabh, however, this was a first. He had played the victim of red-tapism and injustice before but Satyagraha was not a revenge sage and the central figure was not a young hero. Here, we saw a father who was betrayed by the very system that he believed in with all his heart. We saw someone who tried his best to not let his emotions get the better of him but ultimately failed.

Thanks to Amitabh’s genius, what was supposed to be a social/political drama became more of a heart wrenching story of the injustice done to a father, his misdirected (and ultimately directed) anger and grief.

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