Father’s Day 2021: Piku, Dangal And Angrezi Medium; 6 Films That Celebrate The Father-Daughter Relationship
As the world celebrates Father’s Day today, let’s take a look at the films where Bollywood celebrated the father-daughter relationship
It is a common saying that while sons are usually mumma's boys, daughters are fondly daddy’s girls. A father is a daughter’s first hero, the first man she loves and looks up to, and the bond they share is something special and unmatchable. He can be overprotective at times, but a father is always the first that man any girl depends on for everything.
In real life, there have been several daughters within the film industry who have openly accepted being their daddy’s girl, like Priyanka Chopra Jonas who even got the saying ‘Daddy’s li’l girl’ tattooed on her arm. Here’s a look at some of the Bollywood films from the recent years that celebrated this beautiful bond on screen:
Angrezi Medium
Irrfan Khan’s swan song that opened just a month before his sad demise last year, saw him as the loving, caring and doting father to Radhika Madan’s Tarika, who even though facing financial issues, goes to lengths to make her daughter’s dream of studying abroad a reality. His effortless portrayal of a father stuck in a foreign land trying his level best, by legal or illegal means, to fulfil his daughter’s dream, struck a chord with everyone. That performance, as touching it was, will always come with a pinch of salt as it was also Irrfan’s last ever feature film.
Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga
This film was the first-time on-screen collaboration for the real-life father-daughter duo of Anil and Sonam Kapoor. The film told the story of a father who struggles to come to reality with the sexual orientation of his lesbian daughter and the journey he goes on to realise that his love for her is above anything else and accepts her for who she is. The film had an amazing chemistry between Anil and Sonam, and it also paved a new path for the LGBTQ+ representation in Hindi films.
Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl
Even though this 2020 Netflix release was the biopic of the eponymous Air Force pilot and traced her journey to make a name for herself in a male-dominated field, it was Pankaj Tripathi’s performance as the supportive and encouraging father to Janhvi Kapoor’s Gunjan that gathered unanimous praise all around. The way his character stood up against his own wife and son to allow his daughter to fulfil her dream, made him an ideal father that every daughter admired and every father aspired to be.
Piku
Amitabh Bachchan’s quirky portrayal of a constipated Bengali man living with his daughter Piku, portrayed by Deepika Padukone, was one of the finest portrayals of the father-daughter relationship in Hindi cinema. The film touched several topics through its story like a daughter taking up the responsibility of taking care of her father on her shoulders while being financially and sexually independent. Their quirky and tom-and-jerry kind of a relationship touched all hearts and bagged several awards for both the actors, including a National Award for Senior Bachchan.
Dangal
This Aamir Khan’s film, that launched the career of Fatima Sana Shaikh and Sanya Malhotra, gave one of the most iconic line for any father-daughter relationship, “Mhaari chhoriyaan choron se kam hain ke?”. Showing the story of a strict father who lays it all on the line, including his relationship with his daughters, to make them achieve excellence in wrestling and fulfil his dream, became one of the highest grossing Hindi films worldwide, breaking several box-office records on its way. But above that, it showed how behind the strictness and hard exterior of a father figure is a soft and emotional heart of a father.
Bareilly Ki Barfi
Although the main focus of this Kriti Sanon, Ayushmann Khurrana and Rajkummar Rao-starrer wasn’t the father-daughter relationship between Pankaj Tripathi and Kriti, yet it sure did leave an impact in that regard. The film showed Pankaj as a non-typical father, who even though hailing from a small town like Bareilly, lets his daughter follow the path she chooses. He smokes with her, drinks with her and still talk about the matters of heart with her as well. If Gunjan Saxena was Pankaj’s one of the finest father performances, here is where it all started.
Image source: IMDb