There’s no greater joy for a father than for his children to get recognised, says Sham Kaushal.
reached out to Vicky Kaushal’s father, action director Sham Kaushal, who couldn’t contain his joy and pride on the honour his son’s film received.
In 2019, Vicky Kaushal won his first National Award for Best Actor for his performance in the war film, Uri: The Surgical Strike (2019). The film went on to win three other awards including Best Director, Best Audiography and Best Music Director (Background Score). Four years later, Vicky is now a part of yet another film that has won big at the 69th National Awards, which were announced yesterday. Sardar Udham bagged five awards in the Best Hindi Film, Best Cinematography, Best Costume Designer, Best Production Design and Best Audiography: Re-Recording (Final Mixing) categories.
reached out to Vicky’s father, veteran action director Sham Kaushal, who couldn’t contain his joy and pride on the honour his son’s film received. “I feel very proud as a father. There’s no greater achievement for a father than for his children to get recognised. I’m at stage in my life where I’m happier to see their achievements than my own,” he tells us exclusively.
So, has there been a party at the Kaushal household yet? “For about 30 years, I was known as an action director. And now, people refer to me as ‘Vicky and Sunny’s father’. There’s no greater joy than this for me. We haven’t celebrated as such. We aren’t ‘party people’. We’re so happy and we don’t need to have a party to celebrate it,” he says.
Sharing Vicky’s reaction, he says, “Vicky’s very happy. His film won five awards at the National Film Awards. Whenever we do a film, we want it to be widely recognised and appreciated. The idea is to reach as many people as possible with our work. And when you get honoured, you feel humbled and blessed.” But the credit large goes to the director of Sardar Udham, feels Kaushal. “I salute the captain of the ship, Shoojit (Sircar) da. Filmmaking is a director’s medium and everyone works hard to take a film to a wider audience. It’s a very happy moment for all of us,” he remarks.
The Zara Hatke Zara Bachke actor has often spoken about how his father, despite being a part of the film industry, always wanted him to earn films on his own. As the proud father speaks about his son, he’s reminded of how he always taught him the importance of making a name for himself with his own hard work and diligence. “I carved my own path in this business. I didn’t have my parents and that became my strength. So, I’ve always felt that if my children struggle for themselves and get to develop their own perspective of the world, they’ll become more confident and better human beings and that’s exactly what had happened with me as well. As a father, I’ve always supported my sons but as a professional, mujhe mera aukaat maaloom tha. I knew that they wouldn’t get a job with my recommendation,” he elaborates.
The action director, who recently worked on Gadar 2, adds, “I came from a village but God has been kind and helped me get so much work. Similarly, I knew that if my children work hard earnestly, they’ll also get work. This industry has some really good people. My parents used to live in the village and weren’t educated. They could’ve never imagined that I would come to Mumbai one day. Children also have their own destiny and you, as a parent, can’t interfere with that. Bina maange humein kitna kuch mil gaya hai. Maine unko humesha kahaan ki agar meri ungli pakad ke chaloge toh main toh sirf utna hi chal paaunga jitna mujhe aata hai. So, I told them that if they walk their own path, they’ll get to explore so much more and learn from their own mistakes and achievements and as a result, become more matured individuals.”
