Veteran actor Anupam Kher broke down on national television as he recalled the final words of his father, Pushkar Nath Kher, during an emotional appearance on the INDIA TV show Aap Ki Adalat with Rajat Sharma. Holding back tears, the actor said his father’s last message to him was: “Live life.” “I try to live every moment of my life with those words in my heart,” Kher said, choking with emotion. “What greater lesson can a father give to his son?”
‘He was my biggest fan’
In a heartfelt segment, Kher described his father as his most devoted admirer. “He even praised my worst films,” he said. Despite avoiding flights, his father would proudly tell train co-passengers that his son was Anupam Kher.
Kher recounted a night when his father, during a journey, woke him up around 2.30 am just to prove his identity to a fellow passenger. “He handed the phone to Malhotra saab, who said, ‘You’re Anupam Kher? Say a dialogue!’ So I delivered: 'Rana Vishwa Pratap Singh, Dr Dang Ko Aaj Pehli Baar Kisine Thappad Maara Hai. Is Thappad Ki Goonj Jab Tak Tum Zinda Rahogey, Sunai Degi'.” The passenger was convinced, and Kher laughed, “That was my father’s love.”
After his father died in 2012, Kher and his family discovered a locked tin trunk that nobody had ever touched. Inside were clippings of every article ever written about Kher, including bad reviews, along with his cards and trophies. “He used to underline even the harshest reviews. That was his way of expressing love,” the actor said.
‘He couldn’t eat… food felt like sand’
Describing his father's final days, Kher said, “He stopped eating. Food tasted like sand, water like acid. He slowly wasted away.” Kher, who was attending a wedding in Goa, rushed back after his brother called.
“When I reached, he had a pen and a notepad on his chest. He tried to write something for 10-15 minutes. But the page had only lines; he didn’t have the strength to form words. He looked at me and gestured. I leaned in close. He whispered just two words: ‘Live life’... and twenty minutes later, he was gone.”
Camel urine and baldness: Lighter moments on the show
The actor also shared humorous moments from his early Bollywood struggles, including a desperate attempt to cure his baldness using camel urine. “I didn’t know camels urinate once every 3–4 days,” he laughed. “I would chase them at Juhu Beach with a plastic bag. And when they did, it felt like a monsoon. But nothing worked!”
Despite this, Kher landed the lead role in Saaransh, saying, “Jo nahi hota hai, wohi hota hai (What you don’t expect, happens).”
Famous uncles, failed classes
Kher also revealed how he unintentionally made his uncles famous by naming them in a scene in the superhit film Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge. “One failed Class 8 seven times. Another, Class 9, eight times. When the film was released, I felt guilty and wrote them apology letters. But they wrote back, saying, ‘Thank you, beta, tumne hamein famous kar diya.’”
Preparing for Gandhi in The Bengal Files
In the same show, Kher unveiled his first look as Mahatma Gandhi in Vivek Agnihotri’s upcoming film The Bengal Files: Right to Live, based on the 1946 Calcutta Killings and Noakhali riots. He revealed he spent a year preparing for the role, giving up meat and alcohol and adopting Gandhi’s way of life. “Portraying Gandhi is a dream for any actor. I had to transform myself mentally and physically to even attempt it.”
