Anupam Kher – the gifted character actor of bollywood.

Anupam Kher – the gifted character actor of bollywood.

Anupam Kher created his own identity with the performance in the film Surhansh. He showed the crude reality that those citizens who had shed blood in Indian freedom movement or participated in the movement had been ill-treated when they became old. For entering the office of a minister the person had to cross a number of clerks, assistants, secretaries without whose permission there was hardly any access. He showed the frustration through his performance.

In Daddy, he showed the relationship between a father and a daughter played by Puja Bhatt. The pains he faced had compelled him to get addicted to alcohol. He was rediscovered by the affection of his daughter. While performing in the off-beat films Anupam Kher also made significant contribution in the big banner films.

He faced Dilip Kumar in Karma directed by Subhash Ghai in a negative role. He plyed the role of Dr. Dang and led a terrorist mission to destroy India. Dilip Kumar created an army comprising of hardcore criminals including Anil Kapoor, Jackie Shroff and Naseer and destroyed his establishments. Very siginificantly he did not try to imitate Pran or Amrish Puri or the other traditional villains but created a style of his own.

He was sublime in comedy roles and showed his talent in films like Jamai Raja, Ram Lakhan, etc. Comedy is based on sense of timing, and Anupam Kher had always been elegant in those performances. Even in roles where the character required compassion he excelled in those roles also.

In Kahona Pyar Hai, he played the role of the father of Amisha Patel and he engaged his men to kill the commissioner, but from the time he knew that Hrithik had seen it and was still alive he changed his plans for killing him as his daughter was also associated with him. He had surrendered before the police at the end of the film.


He was also sublime in his performance in the film Refugee, where he played the role of a village sarpanch in a village situated in the border district in India. Indian security officials often came to his house to inspect the whereabouts of Abhishek Bacchan who had the tendency of reaching Indians to Pakistan and bring them back. The role required depth of understanding which he showed with his performance. With over 200 films in bollywood in a span of 20 years, he had created an institution by himself and is expected to continue the good work in the years to come.

By. CR Chatterji.