BIRTHDAY SPECIAL: Why Alok Nath is the BAAP of all BAAPS

Alok Nath, who turns 62 today, was one of the most popular, type-cast and successful on-screen fathers of Hindi Cinema back in the late 80’s and early 90’s. And thanks to the advent of social media, he became an overnight rage on Twitter and Facebook with one meme after another only quadrupling his previous stints as a Sanskaari Baap.

Sanskaari because that was the word given to the former Censor Board Chief, Pahlaj Nihalani, and was proudly shared by Nath. If you closely observe his filmography, it was Sooraj Barjatya who realized that the actor was capable of portraying the role of a saccharine, sugar-coated and naïve father, and gave him four characters with almost the same arc. From Maine Pyaar Kiya to Hum Aapke Hain Koun to Hum Saath Saath Hain to Vivaah, he was the same father to different children. Even in Subhash Ghai’s Pardes and Taal, he essayed the role of a small-town father whose daughter gets married in a plush family. But despite his repetitive performances, and we need to blame the lack of innovative ideas in Bollywood and its obsession with re-creating or cashing in the success of a previous so-called ‘Formula’, the actor always struck a chord with the audiences, particularly the ones easily manipulated by even the slightest of on-screen family feuds or discords.

However, there were a few films in the 90’s where we saw the opposite side of the actor. Films like Tirangaa, Bol Radha Bol and Vinashak showed there’s more to the actor than just a Sanskaari Baap. The last two films saw him in out-and-out negative roles and he was a badass. And in this year’s sleeper-hit, Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety, he threw away his family image in the air and unabashedly spewed cuss words and unapologetically smoked at least a hundred cigarettes. Now that’s the BAAP of all BAAPS!

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