Celebs talk about filling their dad’s shoes!

“I turned from boy to man 12 years ago, when my father died suddenly due to a cardiac arrest after his morning walk,” says artist Jitish Kallat. “He passed away in a matter of seconds.

I was 24 at the time and we had been extremely close. Everything transformed from that moment in the sense that the responsibility for the family was passed on to me.

There was a sequence of events for several months after that which are too personal to recount but in retrospect things, every hurdle, seemed to pass as if some divine intervention was at play. Within the same year I got married to Reena because my grandma knew I was seeing her and wanted her to be a part of the family for my father’s first death anniversary rituals.

The fact that Reena was around in the months following my dad’s death helped immensely. Seven years later when my son Ahaan was born, I felt that the canopy that had disappeared from over my head following my father’s death had reincarnated — only this time I was the canopy over my son’s head!”

Art dealer Ashish Balram Nagpal had already gotten married and moved away from his father’s home when his father died. “It was a strange feeling for a son when it happened,” he says.

“It was not mere grieving — it was like an umbrella above my head had been removed. Only after he passed away did I realise how much I missed him and how much I had depended on him. Even though mom was alive I felt like an orphan.” For Ashish, the practical implications weren’t tough because their family is very closely-knit, it was primarily the emotional implications that required dealing with.  

Actor Karan Oberoi was born into an army family but moved away from his father’s home years ago to seek his own fortune in showbusiness. “I had to set up my own house and I was apprehensive. I was used to a certain lifestyle and here I had to start from scratch.  There were some tough lessons and many beautiful experiences that I had along the way.

Normally one assumes that there will be complete freedom for oneself when one is independent but the flipside of that is a lack of any security. I had to look after everything
myself but there was no other option.”

Today, however, Oberoi has set himself up as an independent unit even as both his parents are alive and well in Chandigarh. “I take happiness in the fact that I’m a self-made person,” he says. “I also feel very proud of having made it on my own.”