Retro Review: Mother India

The month of March has been dedicated to the women of Tinsel Town and, we, at BollyCurry, have decided to focus on a movie that salutes women's spirit in this edition of the Retro Review.

We're talking about the mother of Hindi films, Mother India, which released in 1957, with a mega star cast like Nargis, Raaj Kumar, Sunil Dutt and Rajendra Kumar.

The story is about the character of Radha (played by the fearless Nargis), a wife and a mother who struggles against a hostile and unscrupulous money-lender who holds her husband's farm (played by Raaj Kumar) and which feeds her children. However, tragedy struck the family when her husband lost both arms due to an accident. He abandons his family because of his condition, leaving Radha to raise her children alone and fight off debts, starvation, and the lewd money-lender as well. The second part of this film is focused on Radha and her sons: rebellious Birju (played by Sunil Dutt) who turns into a dacoit, and virtuous Ramu (Rajendra Kumar), who got married and is devoted to his mother. Radha believes that she will be able to change Birju, by bringing him to the right path, but destiny has something else in store. By the end, Radha shoots her own son, who dies in her arm.

Radha's character is seen as a symbol of women empowerment during that period and it's one of the best performances by Nargis. She even won the Best Actress Award that year. In fact, ever since the release of the film, if there has been one movie that has been studied all around the world, it has been Mother India. From film school to regular universities and colleges, Mother India has been explored time and time again as the movie that says it all about women empowerment.