Fathers and Sons: From Foes to Friends in Films like The Mehta Boys, Mughal-E-Azam, and Animal

I enjoyed watching The Mehta Boys last week on Amazon Prime Video. As impressive as Boman Irani and Avinash Tiwary were in their roles, I felt like reaching through my screen and hugging Puja Sarup’s character Anu, a woman stuck not just between two continents, families, and accents, but most unfortunately between her father and brother.

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Being the first-born daughter, she is now forced to take on the role her mother has played all these years, being the buffer-cum-peacekeeper between the two men in her life. Shreya Chaudhry’s character Zara also plays a similar role, becoming the filling between two slices of toast. Individually they may be great, but when placed together, they only have crumbs of flavour to offer.

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Is it any surprise then that men often need alcohol to let their guard down with each other? Something to dissolve the need to appear strong and confident, revealing the little boys who grew up watching their fathers constantly being in control emotionally. While we have all grown up hearing that so and so is a Mamma’s boy or Daddy’s girl, why is the relationship between a parent and child of the same gender (in this case cis-gendered), often equal parts affection and conflict.

The Conflict of Duty and Desire: A Father-Son Struggle in Mughal-E-Azam

We have had father-son relationships of many different tones and textures populate our films over the years. Akbar is torn between his love for his son and his expectations from the future Emperor of India. Salim’s destiny is to lead an empire and follow the traditions of his illustrious family.

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