Tigmanshu Dhulia, 50, plays father to Shah Rukh Khan, 51

It only happens in India. Actors are compelled to play roles not suitable to their age. Filmmaker Tigmanshu Dhulia, who has lately been facing the camera, has been selected by Anand L. Rai to play Shah Rukh Khan’s father in the untitled film that Rai is currently directing.

In the movie, Shah Rukh plays a dwarf in a non-dysfunctional family. where there is no genetic history of any physical disability. But why Tigmanshu as Shah Rukh’s father?

“When Anand asked me to do the role I didn’t ask him why he chose me. I was just happy to be playing the superstar’s father,” says Tigmanshu, who has been devoting substantial time to acting roles in recent years. He played important roles in Nikhil Advani’s Hero and Ketan Mehta’s Manjhi, The Mountain Man.

But isn’t it strange to have a 50-year old actor play father to a 51-year old superstar? Says a source in the know, “It’s a family of physically healthy people. Anand wanted Shah Rukh’s dwarfed personality pitched against an actor who stood tall and imposing on screen and Tigmanshu suited the character.”

Traditionally, in the domain of Indian cinema, the actresses are known to play mother to heroes their age or even younger. Waheeda Rehman was shocked and embarrassed when, after playing Jeetendra’s leading lady in Jyoti Bane Jwala, she was signed to play his mother two years later in Maqsad.

Is Tigmanshu the male version of Waheeda? He laughs off the comparison.  But if our 50-plus heroes insist on playing college students and the likes, there will be an acute shortage of actors playing their parents.