Mother India (1957)

Mother India----

Definitely the greatest film ever made in Bollywood I watched it few months back only.And in many many scenes it almost brought tears in my eyes.The struggle for survival,the fight against injustice and living with moral can melt any1's heart who understands the true meaning of cinema.A helpless mother fighting for survival alongwith her small children's can run any1 in a melange of emotions bringing the worst image of poverty and illiteracy

Mother India was such a flick which have the ability to put many of the greatest cinema from Hollywood into shame.It shows how realistic and impactfull a bollywood cinema can be.Its sad that it only got nominated for Oscar in best foreign language category but was not able to win But i can say with utmost surity if Hollywood's biggest Blockbuster ever 'Gone With The Wind' can win 9 Oscars...then Mother India if made in Hollywood have won at least 3-4 Oscars.....

Mother India seems to be forgotten by the people.They took Sholay or DDLJ name but not this timeless and haunting ground to earth classic most probably cause it doesn't feature Amitabh Bachchan or SRK

With one of the most path breaking climax for a bollywood flick Mother India for a Hollywood fan like me was a dream coming true I can take its name alongside Hollywood classics like 'Gone With The Wind',Schindler's List etc

One such flick which makes me proud that ever i got a chance to show how great a bollywood is then without a blink of my eye i will took Mother India.DDLJ or Sholay are entertainers but they are not totally realistic.

Mother India's each and every frame....each and every shot was realistic and believable

Mother India is a triumph of bollywood in film making and direction Not to forget the unforgettable performances by Nargis and Sunil Dutt

It makes me feel proud for bollywood.I can held my head high in any film festival of the world if i am showcasing Mother India

Only special effects and different stories cant help to move forward.Long live bollywood.We have the potential of world class cinema.We need directors like 'Mehboob Khan'

And its an honour,respect and matter of pride that bollywood made Mother India

Mother India is Mother of all bollywood flicks till date

10/10

Fmovies: This was a movie about a strong woman of honor, Radha (Nargis) and her family, a usurious man, and the poor village they live in. The lender breaks villagers' backs by charging interest at such a high rate that they give something like 3/4 of their laborious harvest to the lender just to cover interest, keeping the debt in perpetuity. Almost nobody around can read, so the terms of the original contract are never clear. Though the situation keeps the woman's family downtrodden financially, she staunchly preserves her pride and dignity.

One of her sons, Birju (Sunil Dutt), is portrayed as always being a "problem" right from childhood, and while I could understand his rage against the moneylender, I found his vengeance hard to believe, especially the self-destruction that pitted him against his own family members. I like the ending and really laud Radha, who realized that one's dignity and honor is priceless and shouldn't be bartered away.

I found the film to be too long (it lasted around 3 hours); the story could have been just as compelling if it were an hour shorter. I would recommend the film and would rate it 6 on a scale of 10. I saw it as part of an Indian film festival, where it was projected on a movie screen from DVD and had English subtitles.

Nargis, the center piece of the movie has a role of a lifetime - not only for her, but even after 50 years, each year, at least one 'A' list actress has called this her dream role. A then stellar star cast pull off breathtaking performances. The screen play is sharp and the pace of the movie is just right. This movie was also path breaking for Nargis, as it was her first after her split with RK banners and Raj Kapoor - the first and best showman of Indian cinema. I don't know why this movie was not awarded an Oscar. After seeing this movie, I think the Oscar lost an opportunity to be associated with such a classic. Well worthy of a watch.

Mother India fmovies. This is perhaps one of the best if not the best Indian Movie ever made. A strong story line depicting the values and tribulations of rural India,this movie is backed up by some very powerful performances.All from Nargis,Suniel Dutt,Rajendra Kumar to Kanahiya lal are superb. The story revolves around Nargis and shows the trials and tribulations of her life. There are quite a few memorable sequences in the film. Starting from the scene when Nargis's one child has died due to malnutrition and the other two live ones are extremely hungry. In the moment of extreme despair when she decides to go to the village Baniya,her facial expression showing a mixture of pure contempt and extreme dejection are superb. A word must be said about the director of the movie,Mehboob Khan,right through out the movie one can see,his vision and creativity shining brightly. Every scene it seems has been hand crafted and all the sequences are closely linked to each other. The music too of the film is immensely pleasing to the ears. The songs give the aroma of the richness of the Indian village and are a treat to watch too. Above all the movie is about hope and values. Such a vivid interplay of emotions which are very close to the native Indian sensibilities is hardly ever seen in Indian cinema.The title is apt too surely this is the MOTHER India of all Indian films!

A movie of an epic proportion in the true sense of the word. Easily, one of the greatest films ever made regardless of any cultural, traditional, social, and ethnical background to consider.

Nargis stars as a suffering woman, Radha, experiencing tragedy after tragedy, surviving it all. The first half of the film doesn't promise anything overly special. A poor community falls under the weight of a moneylender, Sukhilala. When Radha marries, her mother-in-law mortgages her farm to pay for the wedding and Radha's jewlery. Since the mother-in-law has no education whatsoever, Sukhilala, probably the only educated man in the village, is able to take advantage of her. When she challenges Sukhilala's claim, she can't do much to disprove their deal. This part of the story is pretty cliché, rather predictable and very questionable. Sukhilala is a fairly standard villain, very cartoonish and simplistic. The audience is programmed to hiss at his every appearance. The conflict is compelling, but I was hoping for something more complex. It is nice, I suppose, to see the system challenged, but the fact that the system is challenged does not necessarily mean that the film challenges the system in an insightful manner. In reality, the film's solutions to the problems are all melodramatics.

Luckily, something else is brewing in the film at this point. Radha has two sons, Ramu and Birju. The story starts to focus in on Birju, who is very obnoxious. His mother loves him dearly, spoils him, and he becomes simply evil. I should say at this point that the little kid who plays him as a child, Master Sajid, is very, very annoying, not to mention a terrible little actor. As an adult, Birju is a devil. Sukhilala still runs the place, and now Birju is big enough to do something about it. Thankfully, Birju is not made a hero. Well, perhaps an anti-hero, but at least we're spared him becoming an Indian Robin Hood as I expected. Complexities begin to develop in the way Sukhilala is depicted, and, while he's still the villain, the audience is no longer programmed to despise him on site. Radha has to both protect her son and stand up for what is right. The climax is so extremely impressive that I was almost convinced that the film was great.

Yet the film is not what I would call great as a whole. There were dozens of scenes that I loved, but, as the film goes on for three hours, there was plenty to dislike, as well. The fat and gristle detract. Did I mention there are great songs? Great indeed! I love Hindi music myself. The cinematography is also often exceptional. 8/10.