It is OK not to be a Hero!

The best movie I watched this year was "Dangal" - a story of a father obsessed with a dream of making his daughters into award-winning professional wrestlers. But this blog is not about the main hero Amir Khan or the girls and the difficulties they had to face. This blog is about a character from that movie who won my heart - Omkar, played by Aparshakti Khurana, and many more characters like him who are not heroes themselves but help make one. Throughout the movie, Omkar was shown as the guinea pig, the side-kick, the joker, the man-Friday and the country bum. But if you pause for a second and think about it, I don't think Dangal would have been complete without Omkar's contribution in it. Omkar was a fun guy. He had no ego. Imagine a world with many more such Omkars.

People like Omkar are the glue of this world. They play a very important part in keeping things together and making things work for someone else.

Here are my pick of the top five more such hidden characters from movies and their qualities that make them special:

• Via, Auggie's sister in Wonder - the caring and understanding person-

Via was the first-born of the couple and was the centre of their world. But she abdicated that position as soon as her little brother Auggie was born. She knew that her brother needed more care and decided to be a silent pillar for the family. She did not bother her parents with her problems because she felt that they had enough on their plate already. To have this kind of a caring and understanding nature is a blessing for those around her.

• Circuit in Munna Bhai MBBS - Mr. Dependable

probably the best side-kick ever characterized in Bollywood. But the quality I loved most about him was his dependability. Whenever Munna Bhai was in trouble, he would first call Circuit and depend on him to find a solution.

• Chintan in Secret Superstar - the cheer-leader

Chintan studies in the same class as a girl who secretly dreams to be a singing sensation. He becomes her partner in making that happen. He helps her run away to Mumbai, covers for her to save her from trouble and cheers her up when she feels like giving up.

• Mitchell Garabedian in Spotlight - the good samaritan

Spotlight is a true story about the Boston Globe Expose on the child abuse scandal by Catholic priests in many parts of USA. This lawyer was the only one who was willing to take up the cases of the victims. All others were too scared to challenge the Church. Despite losing many of the cases before Boston Globe exposed the story, he kept helping the victims in whatever way he could.

• Buddy in The Nut Job - the faithful companion

Buddy was a rat and a faithful companion to Surly, the squirrel and the lead character of the movie. When Surly is banished from the park by rest of the animals, only Buddy stands by him and decides to join him in the exile. He stays with him through the various adventures and almost gets himself killed saving Surly from dangerous city bandicoots.

I think we are giving a lot of unnecessary focus on trying to become a "Hero" or an "alpha-male" or a "wonder woman". The world really doesn't need so many heroes. But the world surely needs more Omkars, Vias, Circuits, Chintans, Mitchells and Buddys.

It doesn't take much effort to imbibe these qualities. See if you can become more caring and understanding like Via, dependable like Circuit, a cheer-leader like Chintan, a do-gooder like Mitchell and a faithful companion like Buddy for someone else. I have a feeling that you might love it. If you are recruiting somebody, see if you can find these qualities in them.

And, if you know a character like Omkar who has made a difference in your life, tag him or her and share it with all of us in the comments below. Wish you all a wonderful 2018!

Picture courtesy: IMDB and unknown sources from google image search

About the Author

Rakesh Godhwani calls himself a nobody. He teaches, writes, reads a story to his kids every night before they sleep, bicycles his way to work when he can, does yoga, earns a fraction of what he used to, but lives a million times better. Check his online course Present with Confidence and his latest book Public Speaking Kaleidoscope. Follow him @godhwani. Read his other posts at https://rakeshgodhwani.wordpress.com or on medium https://medium.com/@Godhwani