Alok Nath: Lesser known facts

According to a Mumbai Mirror report, Ekta Kapoor's attempt to turn babuji Alok Nath into randy paa-in-law has turned futile. Ekta made an attempt to break his image of sanskari babuji and approached him to play Tusshar Kapoor's to-be father-in-law in the third film in the Kya Kool Hain Hum franchise. However, much to her dismay, the veteran actor turned her down, the report stated. A source close to the development told Mirror, “Alok Nath wasn't comfortable with the sexual innuendos and double-meaning jokes and politely made this clear to the studio executives that he wasn't interested in being a part of Kya Super Kool Hain Hum.” Confirming this, Alok Nath said to Mirror, “Yes, they did approach me with something I have never done in my entire career. Suddenly, if I were to be seen in a sex comedy, it wouldn’t be acceptable to my fans.”

Alok Nath is seen as an epitome of sanskar due to his choice of roles and was much talked about after jokes on him started trending on Twitter. Here's taking a look at some lesser known facts about the sanskari babuji of Indian television and Hindi cinema...

We have all grown up watching Alok Nath aka babuji playing sanskari roles in many Bollywood films. But no one had ever imagined that the seasoned actor, who is known for playing character roles, will one day become a topic of discussion on social networking sites and a laughing stock on Twitter. Alok Nath was a student of National School of Drama. He grew up in Delhi and studied at the Modern School and Hindu College. The actor actively participated in theatre with the group Ruchika during his college days. And because of this, he joined National School of Drama for a graduate degree in theatre. He also directed plays for Modern School and Convent of Jesus and Mary.

Apart from spreading awareness about Indian sanskar and doing kanyadaan on-screen, Alok Nath has also done romantic films. In one of his films, he was paired opposite Tina Munim. The actor was not only seen romancing her, but was also seen running around the trees. In Kaamaagni which released in 1987, Alok was seen doing sensuous love-making scenes. The actor was quoted saying in one of his interviews, "It was too ahead of its time (Kaamaagni). After that, I said to myself, 'Let it be.' I had gotten fame early. I got money."

There was a time when Alok had to turn down an offer to play Jeetendra's father. In an interview with Rediff.com, Alok had said, "I have played father to people who were older than me. I have played father to Jackie Shroff and Rishi Kapoor. I have never said no to a film. Except once, 20-25 years ago, when a producer from Madras wanted me to play Jeetendra's father."

Though he is mostly remembered for being a part of many successful Bollywood films like Hum Aapke Hain Koun, Hum Saath-Saath Hain, Taal, Pardes and Vivah, the actor's 'claim to fame' role was his character of Haveli Ram in Ramesh Sippy's TV show Buniyaad. Alok Nath was about 20-year-old when he started working in Buniyaad. Around the show's closure, he ended up playing the role of a person in his 80s.

The actor has a long list of movies to his credit. He has worked in more than 500 films and 40-50 TV shows. Alok has not limited himself to Hindi TV and films. He has worked in many regional films in different languages like Bengali, Rajasthani, Tamil to name a few. During his stay in Mumbai, Alok also worked with Nadira Babbar's theatre group and did plays at Prithvi which got him noticed in Bollywood.

Alok Nath always tried to prove his versatility. Though the actor has mastered the art of playing babuji, he never shied away from playing different characters. The veteran actor experimented with negative roles in films like Shadyantra, Bol Radha Bol and Vinashak - Destroyer.