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VOTE: India's most powerful papa!
Is it Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, businessman Vijay Mallya, Shah Rukh Khan? Who do you think is the nation's most powerful, influential father? Take our poll and let us know!
We all like to look upon our dads as 'Superman', but these eminent personalities are the real deal!
They're rich, famous, and masters in their respective fields, so with Father's Day coming up on June 19, we bring you the top dads of the nation. Vote and tell us who you think wields the most clout!
Mukesh Ambani
When your old man figures on Forbes' Billionaires List every year, you know he's the real McCoy! Mukeshbhai is the current chairman and managing director of Reliance Industries, with a net worth of $27 billion as of 2011. He already has three children -- Akash, Isha and Anant Ambani -- but if he gets some Jolie-Pitt inspiration to adopt, we'll let you know!
Move on to the next slide and register your votes on the last page of the slideshow.
Anil Ambani
Where the senior Ambani goes, the junior Ambani is sure to follow. Anil is in constant competition with his older brother, although the chairman of the Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group is lagging behind in the billionaire stakes with a fortune of $9 billion. We'd still take it!
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Manmohan Singh
When your father is at the helm of the Government, he's one of the most powerful men not only in the country, but across the world. Our Prime Minister, in fact, was voted to 18th place in Forbes' World's Most Powerful People list for 2011. Too bad Soniaji bested him once again, coming in at Number Nine!
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Shah Rukh Khan
Who wouldn't want SRK as their daddy? He's arguably the top actor in Bollywood and has millions of fans across the world, not to mention millions of dollars in the bank -- approximately 310 million (Rs 1,500 crore), by some estimates. Fancy a few more children, SRK? We don't even mind changing our names to Rahul or Raj Aryan Malhotra!
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Vijay Mallya
Daddy Mallya may well be the most popular Indian tycoon on the scene. Never mind that he's worth a cool $1.4 billion dollars, he makes no secret of the fact that he enjoys his wealth and position. He owns the world's second-largest liquor-producing company, an airline, a cricket team, a Formula One team -- yup, that's the high life alright and the dream of any young man who's going to inherit it all. Just ask Sidhartha Mallya!
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Sachin Tendulkar
The greatest batsman in history. Ninety-nine centuries in international cricket. First player to score 10,000 runs in one-day internationals. World record for playing the highest number of Test and ODI matches. Honoured with the highest Indian sporting award, the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna and India's second highest civilian award, the Padma Vibhushan. We could go on and on and on, but we'll stop here!
And, if Sachin was your daddy, you could utter what is a dream for most -- 'Dad, I'm taking the Ferrari tonight'!
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Anand Mahindra
Okay, so maybe you'd be driving a Mahindra instead of a Ferrari. But when your pop is vice-chairman and MD of a company which generates revenues to the tune of $12.5 billion annually (2011), you can't be complaining too much about it! A respected businessman, Anand Mahindra's leadership has seen the family business expand and prosper beyond anyone's expectations.
And, we're guessing you'd get to attend dad's old alma mater, a little school called Harvard!
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Sharad Pawar
Now here's a powerful politician whose fortune has become something of a joke. While Sharad Pawar himself declared in the Lok Sabha elections of 2004 that he owns assets worth a meagre Rs 3.6 crore, it's an open secret that he's worth thousands more!
In fact, Pawar is considered by many to be the richest Indian politician and his powerful connections are nothing to be scoffed at. A little intimidating, even if he is your dad, what say? But then daughter Supriya Sule declared properties worth Rs 41.52 crore in the elections last September, so...hmmmm!
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Rajinikanth
There is nothing Rajinikanth cannot do, according to his fans. His powers are next only to God's and hell yeah, Superman is no great shakes -- he can't spit bullets at people and kill them!
Jokes aside, though, the Tamil superstar is a legend and it doesn't hurt that by some estimates, his wealth is in excess of US $100 million (Rs 500 crore). Appa!
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Aroon Purie
Founder, Editor-in-Chief and CEO of India Today, the media baron has plenty of moolah to go around, a majority of which comes from Thomson Press, which has a net worth of Rs 68.69 crore and the TV news channel Aaj Tak, valued at Rs 180 crore.
Besides B-Town starlet Koel Purie, Aroon has two other children, Kalli Purie and Ankur. But we're guessing he could afford a few dozen more!
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N R Narayana Murthy
The Chairman of Infosys Technologies is worth a cool $2 billion. A legend in the business world, he's been bestowed several honours, among them the Padma Vibhushan (2008), Commander of the Order of the British Empire (2007) and World Entrepreneur of the Year (2003). We can see him being Superdad to anyone!
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Aamir Khan
If there's anyone who can give SRK stiff competition when it comes to the title of India's most powerful papa, it's Aamir -- his physical stature is inversely proportionate to his clout in the movie industry!
With a fortune estimated at around Rs 60 crore, he may not be B-Town's richest, but he's certainly the most commercially viable. We'd love to say 'papa kehte hain' when it comes to him!
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Azim Premji
The chairman of Wipro Limited is the richest Indian Muslim and also the third-richest Indian according to Forbes, with a personal fortune of US$16.8 billion as of 2011.
Wipro is ranked among the top 100 technology companies globally and Mr Premji has won several accolades for his leadership -- in 2004, Time Magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world and in 2000, he was voted among the 20 most powerful men in the world by Asiaweek. He was also awarded the Padma Vibhushan earlier this year.
Need we say any more?
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A R Rahman
Musical legend. World entertainer. Darling of the nation. Academy Award winner. And still, A R Rahman is so humble, so soft-spoken, so lovable!
Of course, it doesn't hurt that besides his genius, the maestro is also estimated to be sitting on a fortune of $280 million. And we see it buying a lot more than state-of-the-art studio equipment and musical instruments!
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Bal Thackeray
Talk about a study in contrasts -- we go from soft-spoken Rahman to outspoken Mr Thackeray! The Shiv Sena supremo has never shied away from controversy and is one of the boldest politicians the nation has seen.
While his net worth is not known, it suffices to say that he more than makes up for fortune with his clout, especially in Mumbai. When the tiger roars, everyone listens -- and we're guessing at the age of 85 he still has son Uddhav shaking in his boots!
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Shiv Nadar
Meet another Padma Bhushan awardee. With an estimated fortune of $5.6 billion, the chairman and chief strategy officer of HCL Technologies is not only one of India's leading corporate honchos, he's a great philanthropist.
Nadar is known by close friends as 'Magus' (Persian for 'wizard') due to his commitment towards improving the nation's education through his SSN Trust. Wonder if he'd mind losing some millions our way!
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Amitabh Bachchan
When you're one of the seniormost, adored, respected actors in the country and at the top of your game late into your 60s, you know you're a success story! The Big B is immensely talented, gracious, well-groomed and well-spoken, the ideal dad to look up to and emulate.
Yup, he would make a super Paa -- just ask AB's babies!
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Rahul Bajaj
Member of Parliament and owner of the Bajaj empire, Rahul Bajaj's personal fortune is an estimated US $1.6 billion and he's currently listed 34th on Forbes' list of richest people in India.
A father of three children, he's one of the most respected industrialists in India and was bestowed with a Padma Bhushan in recognition of his success in 2001. At this point, we'll take any Padma Bhushan papa!
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Yash Chopra
And finally, we come to Bollywood's seniormost respected filmmaker. Anyone would give their eye-teeth to work with him!
Chopra has won the Filmfare Award for Best Director and the Filmfare Award for Best Movie four times each. He has also been honoured with the Padma Bhushan in 2005 and the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 2001. And yes, he's rolling in money -- at one time, his company Yash Raj Films was worth an estimated Rs 2,900 crores!
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Cast your vote!
So who do you think is the nation's most influential father? Tell us by taking the poll below!