We’ve all seen movies, television commercials where they show fathers as inept creatures acting confused through family life. It’s in our culture where dads are often portrayed as the dunces of the family. But how important their role in the family truly is what we only see in real life.
Recently, actress Rani Mukerji lost her father – Ram Mukerji. He was a renowned filmmaker, one of the founder members of Filmalaya studios, but more importantly he played a vital role in Rani’s life. The first movie that she did was a
Bengali film ‘Biyer Phool’, which was directed by him. In fact, he was quite a lot responsible for shaping up her career.
Dr. Meg Meeker, author of the bestselling book Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters said, “Fathers bring something very different to the table—many things that mothers can’t. The biggest mistake dads make is not understanding their significance.”
Having a strong male influence is important in a youth’s life. Priyanka Chopra, who is one of the most successful actors of Hindi Film Industry, was very close to her father. In fact her father late Ashok Chopra, was one who pushed PC to debut as a singer. She launched her first single in Hollywood, all because her ‘Papa’ convinced her to do so.
She lost him a couple of years ago and is often seen sharing emotional posts about him on Twitter and Instagram. “His death has been a big blow. I still haven’t dealt with it. I don’t know if I’ve healed, but it doesn’t hurt either. I don’t think I have accepted it. I feel like I’m travelling all over the world, and dad will be home when I return. I think grief becomes your constant companion. You just learn to live with it,” she said recently.
She even has a tattoo ‘Daddy’s lil girl’ inked on her wrist.
A positive father-daughter relationship can have a huge impact on a young girl’s life and even determine whether or not she develops into a strong, confident woman. Take example of Deepika Padukone and her father Prakash Padukone.
She has in fact admitted the focus of her life was badminton, which she played competitively from a young age. But while concentrating on her education and sporting career, she used to also work as a child model, first appearing in a couple of advertising campaigns at the age of eight. It was in during her tenth grade, that Deepika decided to become a fashion model. She realised that she was playing badminton only because it ran in the family. “So, I asked my father if I could give up the game and he wasn’t upset at all,” said Deepika.
In fact, a father’s influence in his daughter’s life can shape her self-esteem, her confidence and and her opinions of men. Look at the example of Mahavir Singh Phogat. Coming from a patriarchal society, he not just managed to fight against all odds to train his daughters wrestling, but made sure they win Gold.
Phogat has 4 daughters and a son – Geeta, Babita, Ritu, Sangeeta and Dushyant. He also looks after his nieces Vinesh and Priyanka, his brother’s children. Except Dushyant, the rest of them are trained in wrestling by Mahavir. While Geeta, Babita and Vinesh are international players, Ritu has won a gold medal at the national championship and Priyanka and Sangeeta have won medals in age-level international championships.
Dr. Meg Meeker says, “Women gravitate to what is familiar. How you treat your daughter and your wife is how she will expect to be treated by her spouse.”
