The slow route | Raghubir Yadav in 'Om Ka Hari'

Raghubir Yadav gives his characters the texture of lives already lived. In his latest film, Om Ka Hari, he plays a stubborn father confronting mortality and an estranged son, territory familiar to an actor who has spent a lifetime observing people. Observation is central to his portrayal of a father in the film, caught between love, authority and the fear of losing his son. His character knows how to provide, protect and insist on what he believes is right; what dodges him is the more difficult language of intimacy. Indian fathers are often raised to measure love through responsibility. But responsibility is not always understood. Yadav’s performance finds the ache in that distance; the tenderness of a father who loves deeply, yet struggles to understand the deep emotions of the child standing before him.