Mother India (1957)

Director:

Mehboob Khan

Writers:

Wajahat Mirza (dialogue) &
S. Ali Raza (dialogue)

Release Date:

14 February 1957 (India)

Genre:

Drama | Musical | Family

Plot:

In this melodrama, a poverty-stricken woman raises her sons through many trials and tribulations. But no matter the struggles, always sticks to her own moral code.

Plot Keywords:

Poverty | Money Lender | Revenge | Bangle | Honor

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 6 wins

Cast

Nargis	...	Radha
Sunil Dutt	...	Birju
Rajendra Kumar	...	Ramu
Raaj Kumar	...	Shamu (Radha's Husband)
Kanhaiyalal	...	Sukhilala (as Kanhaiya Lal)
Jilloo Maa
Kumkum	...	Champa
Chanchal
Sheela Naik	...	Kamla
Mukri	...	Shambu (as Muqri)
Siddiqui
Ram Shastri
Fakir Mohammad		(as Faqir Mohomed)
Geeta
Hameeda
Master Surendra
Mastan
Nawab Khan
Master Alec
Sitara Devi		(as Sitaradevi)
Azra	...	Chandra
Sajid Khan	...	Young Birju (as Master Sajid)

Directed by
Mehboob Khan		(as Mehboob)

Writing credits
Wajahat Mirza		(dialogue) (as Vajahat Mirza) &
S. Ali Raza		(dialogue)

Original Music by
Naushad

Cinematography by
Faredoon A. Irani		(photography)

Film Editing by
Shamsudin Kadri

Art Direction by
V.H. Palnitkar

Set Decoration by
D.R. Jadhav		(settings) (as D. R. Jadhav)
Munawarali Mistry		(settings)

Makeup Department
P.G. Joshi	....	makeup artist (as P. G. Joshi)
R. Pitamber	....	assistant makeup artist

Production Management
Munshi Ahmed Qureshi	....	production manager (as M.A. Qureshi)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Nazir Ahmed	....	assistant director (as Nazar Ahmed)
Syed Ameerudin	....	assistant director
Chimankant Gandhi	....	assistant director
Ahmad Hussain	....	assistant director
Wajid Hussain	....	assistant director
S.A. Master	....	assistant director (as S. A. Master)

Art Department
Y.H. Bargal	....	assistant settings (as Y. H. Bargal)

Sound Department
Pandurang Baloor	....	sound assistant (as P. P. Boloor)
Kaushik	....	sound
Manohar	....	sound assistant
M.A. Shaikh	....	sound assistant (as M.A. Sheikh)

Camera and Electrical Department
M.B. Ansari	....	chief electrician (as M. B. Ansari)
Gunvant Patel	....	stills (as Gunwant R. Patel)
Parvez Sabawalla	....	assistant photography
Balu T. Sawant	....	assistant photography
M.R. Vasudev	....	assistant photography (as M. R. Vasudev)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Amarnath	....	costume assistant
Fazal Din	....	costumes
Alla Ditta	....	costume assistant (as late Alla Ditta)

Editorial Department
Ibrahim Baporia	....	assistant editor (as I. Baporia)
A.H. Ratia	....	assistant editor (as A. H. Ratia)

Music Department
Shakeel Badayuni	....	songs
Mohd. Ebrahim	....	assistant music
Shamshad Begum	....	playback singer (uncredited)
Asha Bhosle	....	playback singer (uncredited)
Manna Dey	....	playback singer (uncredited)
Lata Mangeshkar	....	playback singer (uncredited)
Meena Mangeshkar	....	playback singer (uncredited) (unconfirmed)
Usha Mangeshkar	....	playback singer (uncredited) (unconfirmed)
Mohammad Rafi	....	playback singer (uncredited)

Other crew
Mazgaon Mitra Mandal	....	dances
Sanskar Stri Mandal	....	dances
Sorthi Ghedia Gnati Garbi Mandal	....	dances
Chiman Seth	....	dance director
W. Seys	....	negatives process supervisor
V.J. Shah	....	chief production executive (as V. J. Shah)
Nanubhai N. Shukla	....	publicist
J.F.H. Van der Auwera	....	negatives process supervisor (as Vender Awera)

Thanks
Dhirubhai Desai	....	gratitude (as Shri Dhirubhai Desai)
Tatya Saheb Jadhavrao	....	gratitude: Satara Dist., India (as Shri Tatya Saheb Jadhavrao)
Amarsinh Bapubhai Makwana	....	gratitude (as Shri Amarsinh Bapubhai Makwana)
Bhau Antoba Masote	....	gratitude (as Shri Bhau Antoba Masote)
Ishwardas Nemani	....	gratitude (as Shri Ishwardas Nemani)
Becharbhai Patel	....	gratitude (as Shri Becharbhai Patel)
Chimanbhai Kakabhai Patel	....	gratitude (as Shri Chimanbhai Kakabhai Patel)
Gordhanbhai Patel	....	gratitude (as Shri Gordhanbhai Motibhai Patel)
Maganbhai Patel	....	gratitude (as Shri Maganbhai Patel)
Manibhai Patel	....	gratitude (as Shri Manibhai Patel)
Ranchodbhai Patel	....	gratitude (as Shri Ranchodbhai Patel)
Narendra Sinhji Ramsingji Rawalji	....	gratitude (as Shri Narendra Sinhji Ramsingji Rawalji)

Production Companies

• Mehboob Productions (present) (as Mehboob Productions Private Ltd.)

Distributors

• British Film Institute (BFI) (2002) (worldwide) (theatrical)
• Carlotta Films (France) (theatrical)
• Digital Entertainment (DEI) (1998) (USA) (DVD)
• Eros Entertainment (1998) (USA) (DVD)

Also Known As:

"Bharat Mata" - India (Hindi title) (alternative title)
"Gi potismeni me idrota" - Greece (transliterated ISO-LATIN-1 title)
"India anyánk" - Hungary (imdb display title)
"Madre India" - Spain (imdb display title)

Runtime:

172 min

Country:

India

Language:

Hindi

Color:

Color (Gevacolor) (negative) | Color (Technicolor) (prints)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Certification:

UK:U (video rating) (1996) | India:U | UK:U

Filming Locations:

Arthan, Surat, India

Company:

Mehboob Productions

Trivia:

Originally, Sabu, one of the most famous Hollywood stars of Indian origin, was to play the role that Sunil Dutt got eventually.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Elaan (1994)

Soundtrack:

O Mere Laal Aaja

A Masterpiece

Mother India sits right at the top and shares the seat with just a handful of other movies as one of the best films ever made in Indian Film History. Deservedly, it also garnered an Oscar Nomination for Best Foreign Film - a first for Bollywood. Need I say more? Let me try...

Five years after her wedding, Radha, a regular village girl finds she has been abandoned by her husband (who leaves her in despair) and left to cope with his never-ending debt to Shuki Lal, the village "Munshi". To feed her children, Radha toils like a farm-animal and is able to save just enough food to eventually bring up her children. The injustice to and torture of their mother is interpreted in opposite ways by her children: while the elder Ramu is humble and just, the younger Birju who seethes with hatred for Sukhi Lal turns outlaw. While Radha tries to bring back Birju with love, Birju plans to finish Sukhi Lal's debt once and for all.

Mehboob Khan had made some good movies in his career, including a milestone first all-colour (technicolor) Bollywood feature. But nothing could have hinted at the brilliance to come in his waning years. Defying a very many stereotypes, his was the first major Hindi film with a female protagonist, a cowardly abandoning husband (how RajKumar, men of men, agreed for that role is another story), no definitive hero-heroine pairs, etc. He tells the 172-minute story in flash-back as a memory of an old Radha inaugurating irrigation canals in her village. Taking his titular heroine through happiness, desolation, compulsion and resignation, he transformed box-office darling Nargis into an actress nothing short of a legend. We see her go from an innocent bride to an anguished mother to a revered "Mother" of the village.

Nargis herself is most remembered for this career-defining and image-breaking portrayal (soon after which she married Sunil Dutt, who portrayed her bitter son Birju*). Sunil Dutt was a very under-rated actor, for the simple reason that all his great performances were never title characters, and were over-shadowed by more famous co-actors. His Birju is played with such realism and conviction that even today many comedians mimicking Sunil Dutt are actually mimicking Birju.

The director's production team does work beyond their era and workstyle to create the look of the people and place over time. From famine to flood for the backdrop, youth to old-age for Radha and from bright to dirty earthen to faded colours, the team wins complete involvement of the audience by filling our visual and audio sense with realism just next to reality. The director chose to spend more of his limited budget on these aspects, and in turn had to sacrifice on the equipment he could use to capture the sights and sounds that were being realised: the movie was made on 35mm and mono-sound.

Surprisingly, something I have noted as not being mentioned anywhere in literature connected to this movie is how without obviously being so, Mehboob created the most patriotic of Indian movies. The only give-away is in his choice of title Mother India. Depicting his motherland as a repressed and abandoned woman, and her children as peace-loving Gandhi-Ramu or rebellious Bose-Birju, Mehboob layers his movie with such fierce passion, it is impossible not to be overwhelmed by it.