Mother India (1957)
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92% of critics liked it
(12 reviews) -
82% of users liked it
(3,029 ratings)
Bharat Mata (Mother India) was Indian filmmaker Mehboob Khan's remake of his own 1940 film Aurat (Woman). The intervening years had somewhat altered Mehboob's attitudes towards his characters and their surroundings. In the original Aurat, an Indian mother (Sardar Akhtar) suffers monumentally… More Bharat Mata (Mother India) was Indian filmmaker Mehboob Khan's remake of his own 1940 film Aurat (Woman). The intervening years had somewhat altered Mehboob's attitudes towards his characters and their surroundings. In the original Aurat, an Indian mother (Sardar Akhtar) suffers monumentally on behalf of her two sons, much to the disinterest of the rural community where she lives. In the remake, the mother (now played by Nargis) likewise suffers, but her plight now affects her entire village, even inspiring her neighbors to shed their own selfishness. What was once a wholly personal drama has been expanded to near-mythical dimensions. The ending, however, is still tragic, with the long-suffering heroine being forced to kill one of her own offspring to uphold the family's honor. Enormously popular in its native India, Bharat Mata remained in constant reissue throughout the next four decades. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Directed By
- Mehboob Khan
- Genres
- Drama, Art House & International, Classics
G,
- In Theaters
- Feb 7, 1957 Wide
- Studio
- Eros Entertainment
Critic Reviews
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Fred Camper, Chicago Reader
As the mother, Nargis is as resolute as a force of nature, and Mehboob Khan creates tableaux of the family that evoke its fragile unity.
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Trevor Johnston, Time Out
True, there are dull spots and the overripe supporting cast pale beside Nargis' 'force of nature' central performance, but overall it's a wallowy treat.
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Dave Kehr, New York Times
Often said to have helped set the pattern for the nearly 50 years of Indian film that has followed it.
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J. Hoberman, Village Voice
An outrageous masala of apparently discordant elements.
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David Parkinson, Empire Magazine
Put it this way, it's the birth of the Bollywood blockbuster. It should be on every cineaste's must-see list.
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Cast
- Nargis
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Sunil Dutt
as Birju
- Rajendra Kumar
- Raj Kumar
