Amitabh Bachchan - Abhishek Bachchan
"Big B" and "Small B" stand, both literally and figuratively, for Amitabh Bachchan and Abhishek Bachchan respectively. Amitabh is walking tall. Abhishek is... well.., tall! Amitabh is an icon. Abhishek has married an icon! Amitabh adores his son. Abhishek deifies his dad! Never has Bollywood seen a Baap-Beta who are more mutually agreeable than Amitabh and Abhi. So much in agreement with each other that they even reversed roles on screen: Amitabh as "Munna" and Abhi as his "Paa"!
Rakesh Roshan - Hrithik Roshan
Rakesh Roshan, during his acting days, was so in awe of a fast tune that he would immediately order a steed! He would ask his leading lady to mount it ("Tum se Badhkar Duniya mein" -'Kaamchor') and let the horse trot to the tune. Or, he himself would take the reins and let the graceful beast gallop its way to glory ("Hanste Hanste Kat Jaaye Raste"- 'Khoon Bhari Maang')!
In one of the greatest Chromosome(atic) surprises ever in Bollywood, and as an answer to the heartrending prayers of the Roshans, Rakesh was gifted with a "beta" who could dance like the devil! They called him Hrithik, and the rest is His Story!
Dharmendra - Sunny Deol - Bobby Deol
Dharmendra, the "jat yamla, pagla, deewana", was born with two left foot, but won hearts with his absolutely marvelous comic timing and one of the most attractive smiles of all times! Sunny, his first born, "bilkul apne baap par gaya hai". When he's not waging war with his dance choreographers, he is seen screaming out his jingoistic lines to the camera! Bobby, the second Deol, is like home-grown lavender. His on-screen ways are predominantly Deol-ish but there is a North Mediterranean aspect about his facial architecture. And Papa Dharam was the first to go to print with this observation. He referred to Bobby as "my Italian son".
Feroz Khan - Fardeen Khan
Feroz Khan, in his heydays, played the "Indian Cowboy". This mutant character roamed Indian villages in Wild West costumes and shot and killed at will. Even at the heights of the Bachchan phenomena, Feroz Khan plundered the B.O with his brand of escapist stuff. Mostly, he played the fearless on screen, and usually named his character "Rajesh" (king of kings). His son, Fardeen, has not, so far, had an impact on screen. After having debuted with 'Prem Agan' (a Feroz Khan production), Fardeen got relegated into playing rank characters. The most memorable of his on-screen moments has been the one in RGV's 'Bhoot', when he screams his heart out after seeing the apparition of the woman his character had murdered!
Sanjay Khan - Zayed Khan
Sanjay Khan, with a Rahul Dravid-meets-Sam Neil face, made his B'wood debut in 1964 ('Haqeekat'). He went ahead with the Chocolate Boy routine, and vanished from the scene after 'Abdullah' (1980). Sanjay resurfaced in 1990, wielding the great sabre of Tipu Sultan! He got severely burnt in a fire accident on the sets of 'Tipu...' and had to rush through the rest of the Sultan's heroic tale, with a sob! Sanjay's son, Zayed, made his debut with 'Chura liya hai tune jodil ko' and made a mark as the loony half-brother of SRK in Farah Khan's 'Main Hoon Na'. At his best, Zayed looks like an evolved cousin of cricketer Ishant Sharma. At his worst, he is as he was in 'Main Hoon Na'. Both father and son refuse to either be counted in or evaluated as actors.
Prithviraj Kapoor - Raj Kapoor - Rishi Kapoor - Ranbir Kapoor
Kal, Aaj, Kal aur Aajkal! For the Kapoor Khandaan, History is a long-winding sentence that demands to be punctuated by a Kapoor once in a while. The Kapoor echo, it seems, will resonate till the end of time!
Sunil Dutt - Sanjay Dutt
The Dutt tale is such a sad assortment of dramatic twists that it looks almost like a zany B'wood masala plotline. It was Sunil Dutt who played the first Khalnayak of Indian Cinema, in 'Mother India' (1957). Later, he married Nargis, who had played his mother in 'Mother India'. The couple epitomized grace and became known for their patriotic fervor and social commitment. Sanjay Dutt, their only son, started off as an actor, with 'Rocky' (1980) but soon became synonymous with drug abuse and alcoholism. Just when he seemed to stage a comeback, Sanju was jailed under the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities Act (TADA), for having possessed illegal weapons. His conviction coincided with the release of his movie, which was titled 'Khalnayak'! Sanjay keeps on leading a life of trials and tribulations.
Jeetendra - Tusshar Kapoor
The Jumpin' Jack of Bollywood was known for his ebullient/effeminate dancing, which got elevated to the status of a dance form, and is spoofed even today! Tusshar Kapoor is not as abnormal a dancer as his dad was. As actors, however, it is tough to ascertain who the winner is! It's Deadpan vs Underacting!
Pankaj Kapur - Shahid Kapur
Both Pankaj and his son believe that a 'u' can deliver what an 'oo' cannot. They are the Kap'u'rs of Bollywood! Pankaj is a "powerhouse of talent", thanks to movie review nomenclature. One of his famous acts has been that of the carrot-gobbling detective, Karamchand. One can easily cast Pankaj in the role of a scheming n' perverted political dalaal, and go to sleep while the cam is on-- the senior would "live" (thanks again to review nomenclature) the character. His son, the cherubic Shahid, is the exact opposite. This, again, is a chromosomatic Kareena... sorry.. Karisma!
Vinod Khanna - Rahul Khanna - Akshaye Khanna
Vinod Khanna has been Bollywood's favourite "Had it been... it would have been" boy, for he left his supposedly flourishing career to play real-time chauffer to a demi-god. Disillusioned, desperate and nowhere near Enlightenment, Vinod staged a half-hearted comeback in the mid eighties, but found himself to be the dampest squib around. His most memorable comeback sequence could well be the Daya-less smooch he shared with Madhuri Dixit, in 'Dayawan'! Vinod produced a mega-debut vehicle for his son Akshaye, which was, quiet smugly, titled 'Himalayaputra' (Son of the Himalayas). It bombed at the B.O; Akshaye somehow survived the crash to make a living as an actor. Rahul Khanna preferred to be the plum on parallel cinema cakes and went on to become the darling of crossover filmmakers. Akshaye inherits his dad's narcissist streak. As for Rahul, he does have a penchant for smooching!
Suresh Oberoi - Viveik Oberoi
Suresh Oberoi's was not a particularly observed presence on the Bollywood mainstream screen of his times. But his voice surely was heard! Even when he was playing a face in the crowd, Oberoi's voice had the ability to pierce the heart of all contemporary acoustic arrangements, provided he had at least one line written for him, on the screenplay. His most memorable mainstream character has been the one in Amitabh Bachchan's 'Laawaris' -- that of a brave peasant rendered Thakur-ish (arm-less, that is) by the villain (played, of course, by Ranjith). Viveik Oberoi started off well, with an impressive performance in RGV's 'Company', but lost steam and started behaving like a celebrity sans sentience. Rumour hawks had claimed, recently, that Vivek Oberoi and Suresh Oberoi have had a domestic duel. "Everything is fine in the family," says Viveik.
Rajendra Kumar - Kumar Gaurav
Rajendra Kumar was the Sixties' "Jubilee Kumar", for a number of his films celebrated golden jubilee at the B.O. But Madame Luck refused to pass on the baton to his son, Kumar Gaurav, who (after a dazzling debut in 1980's 'Love Story') ran into a storm of flops and got thrown into oblivion.
Manoj Kumar - Kunal Goswami
It was a time when Dilip Kumar, Raj Kapoor and Dev Anand were selling Pathos, Ethos and Bathos respectively on screen. Harikishen Goswami aka Manoj Kumar, after many failed attempts at doing the conventional B'wood romantic, stumbled upon a brand new genre that was untapped till then: Nationalist Cinema! After reaping considerable success in the beginning, Manoj Kumar films began to deteriorate in terms of both technique and telling. As an actor, Manoj began falling prey to zany mannerisms. In his later films, he decided to cover his face with his hand in both mid shots and close-ups, perhaps as a cinematic lament on the degradation of his land, the glory of which he had so trenchantly celebrated on screen, in his youth. But the critics of his age and beyond failed to see this as a brilliantly introspective interpretation, and took it as a typical case of on-screen quackery. His screenplays too had lost their appeal by the eighties. Manoj, then, made a desperate attempt to auto-bequeath the "Mr. Bharath" image to his son, Kunal. He produced and directed the multi-crore biggie, 'Jai Hind', just to project his issue as the new jingoistic oracle of Mother India. The film failed miserably and the dad and the son have been silent ever since. Flags down, that is!
Mithun Chakraborthy - Mimoh
Mithun, the "Bengali Babu", literally crossed India and landed in Bollywood! He forgot his Naxalite days and captured the imagination of the nation by explaining the meaning of "D-I-S-C-O" (prelude to "I am a Disco Dancer"- 'Disco Dancer'-1982)! Mithun's career is interspersed with three national awards for the best actor. And the rest of it is populated by inane/mundane B-grade masalas.
Mithun, according to his fans, was a great action hero. His detractors, however, called him "Poor man's Amitabh Bachchan". Mithun was noticed for his dance, and his favourite dance step was "Watch-as-I-plough-the-earth-with-my legs". Mithun launched his son in a movie titled "Jimmy" and brought back Raj N SIppy from his creative grave to direct it. Mimoh, like a keyed automaton, danced with fury and remained clueless for the rest of the (screen)time. The desperate dad is reportedly planning a second coming for his desolate son.
Dev Anand- Suneil Anand
If you have a dad who is younger (in heart and mind) than you, you have no other option than to age ungracefully! No, we are not discussing Balki's 'Paa' here. It's on Dev Anand and his son Suniel Anand. To those of you who go to films to gobble popcorn, Suneil Anand could very well sound like a pre historic entity while Dev Anand would still be counted in as a persistent oldie trying to be young. The credit for this should go to Dev Anand, and that devil-of-a-debut that he gave his son: 'Anand aur Anand'.