Synopsis
Radha
(Nargis) now an old
woman remembers her past. She remembers her married life.
The family has to work extremely hard to pay off the moneylender
Sukhilala (Kanhaiyalal). Her husband (Raj Kumar) loses both
his arms in an accident and feeling useless abandons the
family. Alone, Radha has to raise her children while fending
off financial as well as sexual pressures from Sukhilala.
One son dies in a flood, and in later years one son Ramu
(Rajendra Kumar) grows to be a dutiful son while the other
Birju (Sunil Dutt) becomes a rebel committed to direct,
violent action. Finally to preserve the honour of the village,
Radha puts an end to Birju's rebellious activities by shooting
him down.
The film
Mother
India is the ultimate tribute to Indian
Womanhood! This epic saga of the sufferings
of an Indian peasant woman has an inherent
and perennial appeal, being typical of the
Indian situation. So tremendous was its
success that the film is in fact a reference
point in the long-suffering mother genre
and is like an Indian Gone With the Wind
(1939).
The
film is an opulent colour remake of Mehboob's
 earlier
austere Black and White film Aurat (1940).
Raised in a village himself, Mehboob
himself was familiar with rural life, its
customs and manners, its soil, seasons,
sufferings and joys and creates a totally
Indian experience in milieu, detail, characters
and dramatic incidents.However Mehboob
raises all these elements to make a highly
charged film that is larger than life and
one that admittedly takes a totally romanticized
look at rural India.
The
film makes heavy use of psychoanalytic and
other kinds of symbolism and nationalist
allegory. (The peasants forming a chorus
outlining a map of India) In fact everything
about the film is highly charged right down
to the strong, earthy central performance
of Nargis.
The film represents the pinnacle of her
career and won her the Best actress award
at the prestigious Karlovy Vary festival.
To quote the Filmindia review of the film...
"Remove
Nargis and there is no Mother India. Nargis
is both the body and soul of the picture.
Never before has this girl given such a
superb and dynamic performance. Nargis reaches
such rare heights of emotion that it will
be difficult to find another artiste in
the entire film world today to compare with
her. Nargis lives the role better than Radha
could have lived it."
Other strong performances in the film come
from Sunil
Dutt as the wayward son Birju (Initially
Dilip Kumar and Hollywood star Sabu
were in the running for this role and it
is said that Dilip Kumar made Ganga
Jamuna (1961) with himself as the wayward
brother as an answer to Mother India),
Master Sajid as the young Birju and Kanhaiyalal
as the creepily, evil moneylender Sukhilala.
Incidentally Kanhaiyalal had played the
role of Sukhilala in Aurat as well!
It
is a well-known story that while shooting
for the film, Nargis was trapped amidst
lit haystacks. As the flames got higher
and higher, Sunil Dutt playing her rebellious
son, Birju, in the film ran through the
fire and rescued her. He proposed to her
and Nargis married Sunil Dutt and quit films
after marriage. She did lend her voice and
we do see her silhouette in Sunil Dutt's
'one actor movie monument' Yaadein (1964)
and she did make a comeback of sorts expertly
playing a woman with a split personality
in Raat Aur Din (1967) winning the
National Award for the same.
Mother
India released in 1957 was greatly lauded
by both the public and critics. To quote
Filmfare in its review in the issue of November
22, 1957...
"Every
once in a while comes a motion picture which
helps the the industry to cover the mile
to the milestone. Mehboob's magnum opus,
Mother India, which was released in the
fortnight is one such film."
Even
the hard to please Baburao Patel who had
panned some of Mehboob's earlier films mercilessly
had to admit...
Mehboob's
Mother India is an unforgettable epic...the
greatest picture produced in India during
the forty and odd years of filmmaking in
this country. In its epic sweep it is perhaps
as great as Gone With The Wind produced
by Hollywood but it is greater than the
Hollywood picture in theme and spirit, for
Mother India portrays the eternal story
of the soil - the mother of countless millions
of human beings."
Mother
India's spectacular success was ironically
noted in Vijay Anand's Kala Bazaar (1960)
when Dev
Anand is seen selling tickets in black
for Mother India's premier! The Film
became the first Indian Film to be nominated
for an Oscar in the Best Foreign Film Category
and at the 1958 Academy Awards lost out
to another masterpiece Federico Fellini's
Nights of Caberia by a solitary vote
at the third poll. Its influence continues
to be seen in Hindi Films till today in
films like Ganga Jamuna, Deewaar
(1975) and Waaris (1988).
|
