Legendary Moms Of Bollywood - Kirron Kher

After earning numerous accolades and critical acclaim in a few number of films, Kher went on to play the character of Sumitra in Devdas starring Shah Rukh Khan, Madhuri Dixit Nene, and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan. Playing the mother of Paro, whose character was played by Aishwarya, Kher played a strong and scarred mother who wanted the best for her daughter after being insulted by the wealthy family of Devdas. Thus she decided to get her daughter married to a rich man who would give her daughter the respect and amenities of a comfortable life. She went on to win the IIFA for Best Supporting Actress. 

In 2004, Kher starred in Main Hoon Na, Hum Tum and Veer Zaara, all which became huge blockbuster hits. While she played the happy, Punjabi mother who supported her widowed daughter and went on to play matchmaker in Hum Tum to the character of Rani Mukherjee, she played the single parent to Zayed Khan's character in Main Hoon Na. A mother who raises a child all by herself and gives love to an unknown man who comes to live with them and treats him like a son only to later find out that he is the illegitimate son of the husband she had left, Kher plays the character perfectly. Different from both of these characters, Kher plays the character of a Muslim, Pakistani mother in Veer Zaara, who is stuck between her daughter who is in love with a Hindu, Indian man and her husband who values his dignity above all. While she chooses to support her husband, she blesses the man who her daughter loves to move on and live happily with the rest of his life.

Once again in 2006, Kher went on to star in movies that garnered her applause for her role as well as the movie itself. That year she starred in three movies, Rang De Basanti, Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna and Fanaa. While she played a doting mother in all the three movies, it was Rang De Basanti that got her praise and awards for her character. She played the mother of a son who had no ambition in life until tragedy struck and the one ambition that he finally inhabited, led him to his death. However, even if she was a proud mother who knew her son died a death of a martyr, a mother's heart always weeps and worries for her child, and that performance gave her the praise she was worthy of.

Apart from these movies, Kher has worked in numerous other films in a motherly role such as Om Shanti Om, Apne, Just Married, Singh Is Kinng, Kurbaan and the laugh riot, Dostana. Her character may be of the same role, a mother, but it is her portrayal of the different shades of a mother that puts Kher above her contemporaries. Each role is played with it's various intricacies and given the same attention so it looks believable on screen. 

As we end this month, we salute this woman who has played all her motherly characters wonderfully! Just as she is on screen, we can be sure she is a great mom off screen as well to her son, Sikander Kher. 

With that, we bid adieu to this month of mothers and remind you all once again to tell your moms how much you love them!

Author: Hershi J.
Editors: Shreya S. & Jenifer Y.
Graphics: Preet K.