Diksha Sundriyal
‘Beauty’ follows the story of the eponymous character who is on the brink of stardom. Beauty is born with talent, which she hones with the help of her mother. Her voice is beautiful, and she is confident that nothing can stop her from having the life she wants. While her mother is hesitant about letting her daughter out and about in a world that doesn’t show mercy to anyone, it is Beauty’s father who pushes her towards stardom.
There is no doubt about the fact that Beauty’s father is greedy and abusive. His motive behind pushing his daughter further is to get something for himself in return. Beauty knows this, but still, she loves him. They drift apart for a while, but when she discovers that he is sick, she doesn’t miss a moment to be by his side. Beauty and her father share a connection, no matter if it’s a bit complicated. So, when he doesn’t show up at her first major show, it makes us wonder. What happened to him? Is he dead? Here’s what you should know about him.
Is Beauty’s Father Dead?
Yes, Beauty’s father dies by the end of the film. The indication of him nearing the end of his life comes when Beauty discovers that he has had a heart attack. He is admitted to the hospital and doesn’t look too good. He tells his daughter that his heart is not getting enough blood and that the doctors have said that he needs to be operated on. This shows that Father’s condition is really bad, and with heart surgery, he might get even weaker.
The fact that he has died is confirmed just before Beauty is about to go on stage for her first major live performance. Her mother is there to encourage and support her, but her father is nowhere to be seen. It is when Mother says “your father would be so proud” that we realize he really is gone. It turns out that he couldn’t recover from the sickness and died soon after the surgery.
‘Beauty’ portrays Father as a greedy person who is always looking for making himself more money. Despite Mother’s insistence to not let Beauty be exposed to the cruelty of the music industry for another couple of years, he actively seeks to let his daughter go out on her own because that’ll make him money. But after signing the contract, Beauty moves on and doesn’t give him the cut he had expected.
Even while he is in the hospital, he is more concerned about the money he should have made and asks Beauty to pay up. A similar thing happened with Whitney Houston, whose father, John Russell, sued her for $100 million, stating that she had not paid his company for negotiating her contract renewal with Arista Records. The difference between real life and the film is that the demand to pay up came at different times in their career. While Beauty’s career was just beginning, Houston was already a well-established singer and actress.
Apart from this, the death of Beauty’s father also parallels the death of Houston’s father. Much like Beauty’s father, Houston was involved in getting a contract deal for his daughter. He passed away in 2003 due to health issues that involved heart problems and diabetes. He had been hospitalized prior to that for quite some time, during which Whitney took care of him, despite their disagreements.
Read More: Is Beauty Bisexual or Gay in Beauty?
