Jun 30, 2003 02:36 PM
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(Updated Jun 30, 2003 02:52 PM)
I was reading an article on directors choice of the best film in Indian cinema & the one that all agreed upon was Mehboob Khan's magnum opus, Mother India, a film released in 1957, greatly lauded by both the public & critics. I was surprised to learn that Mother India was a remake of Mehboob Khan's earlier film ''Aurat'' (1940) & became the first Indian Film to be nominated for an Oscar in the best foreign film category. A classic film that inspired & touched millions of Indians, Mother India follows a peasant woman through her trials & tribulations of poverty, starvation, debt all of which she faces with her undeterred strong-will to survive!
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Radha ki Kahani:
A new water pump is being inaugurated in a village by their matriarch Radha [Nargis], an old woman who then remembers her personal tale in this village, that began on her wedding day. As a blushing bride Radha enters the village with her husband Shaamu [Raaj Kumar], a farmer who for an elaborate wedding has mortgaged the family farm to the evil village moneylender Sukhilala [Kanhaiyalal].
Once the 'honeymoon' is over, Radha alongwith her husband works extremely hard to pay off the debt to Sukhilala, who has a bad eye on Radha. However, times are not in favour of the young couple, as they loose one of their oxen, their crops fail, they have to tend a sick child due to which their debts only keep on increasing. To make matters worse, in a farming accident Shaamu loses both his arms & unable to cope with this feeling of uselessness, he abandons his family leaving Radha to care for their children, farm & debt. Now alone, Radha has to find the strength to raise her three children, face a devastating flood & also the advances of the lecherous Sukhilala. When her ill son dies in the flood, it makes Radha determined not to give in to any of the pressures & rather die with dignity. Singlehandedly, she tills the farm, persuades the fleeing villagers not to abandon their land & her hard work finally pays off.
Years later, Radha is settled with her grown up children; Ramu [Rajendra Kumar], the eldest son is the responsible & obedient one while the other son, Birju [Sunil Dutt], is hotheaded & mischievous who hates Sukhilala & is constantly teasing his daughter, Rupa [Chanchal]. Birju has a soft corner for a schoolteacher, Chandra [Azra] but her father refuses to give his daughter to the village rowdy. Circumstances force Birju to turn into a violent bandit despite Radha's attempts to control him & in his pursuit for vengeance against Sukhilala when Birju tries to abduct Rupa on her wedding day, Radha faces the final & most difficult test of her life: to choose between her love for her son or to preserve the honour of her village. Radha is left with no choice but to confront her own son, as she makes the most painful decision of any mother could ever face; she decides to put an end to her son's rebellious ways...
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The Film/Performances:
Director Mehboob Khan's Mother India
is an unforgettable epic... a remarkable film that takes you on a powerful emotional journey through the joys & calamities of rural life in a small Indian village, during a time when India was rising as an independent nation. Mother India is the greatest picture produced in India which in its popularity is compared to Hollywood's Gone With The Wind; even though the themes of both movies are poles apart. This is Khan's tribute to our tradition, patriotism & of course, to the ever suffering Indian woman! In his film Khan with a strong willed peasant woman as his central character, has put together the usual heavy doses of melodrama alongwith some entertain through the songs, dances & lots of morality lessons. The music by Naushad is inspiring, the songs & dances are well placed and at times where they give the much needed break from the high emotion; an extremely heart rendering song is ''Duniya mein hum aaye hain to jeena hi padega..'' where Radha plows the land with her little children & in the later part of the movie a holi song where she remembers her good times with Shaamu. What sets this film apart is presentation of the characters, details in regards to our customs & the dramatic situations, which seem to be so true, believable that they give a larger than life picture of the rural India. Khan has superbly managed to do justice to all the multiple themes be it patriotism, motherhood, good vs. evil or surviving with honour.
Nargis, was the 1950's Bollywood queen who usually played the role of urban sophisticated girl & yet in Mother India a very young Nargis portrays the life a peasant woman from a timid blushing bride to an industrious strong-willed woman. Nargis is both the body & soul of the film, without her there would be no Mother India. The other most notable performances come from Sunil Dutt playing the wayward son Birju (imagine if as originally planned, Dilip Kumar played the role of birju!), Master Sajid as the young birju is charming in scenes where he teases sukhilala, Raaj Jaani Kumar as the anguished husband/father deserting his family & last but not the least, Kanhaiyalal as the creepily evil moneylender Sukhilala, is definitely one of the most contemptuous villain ever, whenever he twirls his handlebar mustache in glee, one cannot help but wish instant death for this creep!
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My Word:
This saga of the sufferings of an Indian peasant woman & a mother's never dying love is a must-watch in my house everytime its on telly; as my mom wants to make us realise her importance & sacrifices that come with the ''MOM'' package! Of course, one has to agree with the fact that despite all her suffering in the movie Radha's struggles against the terrible odds are laudable & even as none of us would want our moms to face any of that, we all would also agree that no emotion or relation can match the mother-child relation. And with this movie the concept of Radha the 'Mother India' representing our land ''dharti mata'; loving her children unselfishly, became so popular that even today its influence continues to be seen in Hindi films in films like Ganga Jamuna, Deewaar, Waaris, Vaastav & there will be many more such motherly roles in future yet none can ever match or come close to the excellence of Nargis & Mother India.
I hope there is no reader here who has not yet watched this film, if there is..... please do make sometime to watch this film [after which don't forget to hug your mom! :o)]
