Rakul Preet Singh’s life has been shaped by her Army background. Her father, Col (Veteran) Kulvinder Singh served in the Regiment of Artillery, which fires long range guns, rockets and missiles.

Looking back on her formative years today on Father’s Day, the actor reflects on growing up with a father in the Armed Forces. “I grew up in the cantonment, so everyone you know is an Army kid; you think that’s a way of life. Everyone’s father is visiting for a month or a weekend,” she shares.

Living through her dad’s deployment in uncertain times has made her emotionally strong, Rakul notes, “Post Kargil, there was Operation Parakram; the Armed Forces were deployed again and so was my father. For three months, we didn’t know whether they were coming back. You grow up in an atmosphere of fearlessness. Because of this, today trolls don’t affect me.”

While Col Singh was often posted far from his family, Rakul notes that the distance never hindered them one bit: “We used to talk to dad on trunk calls. When he was stationed in the North East around 1999 due to disturbances at the border, a mediator would pass our messages to him — we could hear dad’s reply but he couldn’t hear us.”

Col (Veteran) Kulvinder Singh is as full of praise for his actor-daughter as she is for him. “It’s been a wonderful experience, being a father to Rakul,” he says, adding, “We were two brothers in our family, we didn’t have a girl. Rakul was the first girl child. Any family is incomplete without a daughter.” 

Recalling his days of serving the country, he continues, “Rakul saw me stay away for operations for years. [But] one thing about Rakul and (her brother) Aman was that they would not get cranky that papa was away.”