The Hindi film classic ‘Mother India’ which identifies Indian Cinema of 1950’s is one of the best works of Nargis and Sunil Dutt. The film was released in October 1957, both produced and directed by Mehboob Khan. The memorable music is by Naushad. The other star cast includes Rajendra Kumar and Raaj Kumar. The film is representative of its name, meaning it depicts the strong and devoted Indian woman values.
The storyline is set at the backdrop of an Indian village. The film begins with a village getting water, being inaugurated by Radha, played by Nargis. The flashback takes us to the marriage of Radha with Shamu, played by Raaj Kumar, for which his mother takes a loan from Sukhilal (played by Kanhaiyalal), the village moneylender. This loan becomes a problem for the family after a dispute. The villagers decide that Shamu has to give three quarters of their crop produced as interest for the loan of Rs. 500/-. Shamu is unable to pay Sukhilal his share of interest and has to sell his bulls, utensils to him.
Trying to till one of his lands, Shamu looses one of his arms and becomes bed ridden. His helplessness and dependence on family makes him run away one night. All the responsibilities of the family fall on Radha who is sad about her husband’s disappearance. Hardships for her increase as her mother-in-law also passes away. She is left with her 3 children. Feeding them becomes difficult. Floods in the village destroy everything, even her crops. Radha looses one of her child. It is then when Radha goes to Sukhilal for some help. He has ill intentions for her and on realizing this she runs away.
Years pass by and Radha’s two sons are young and strong. The elder son is Ramu, played by Rajendra Kumar and the younger, naughty son is Birju, played by Sunil Dutt. Sunil Dutt knows that Sukhilal is the evil moneylender who cheats everyone in the village. He even has her mother’s gold bangles which he plans to bring back to her. Apart from being the naughty boy troubling young girls of the village, Birju fights whenever his farm’s yield goes to Sukhilal. Ramu is the loyal son and marries a village girl he loves and has a child with her. Birju loves a village girl but cannot marry her. Birju’s ways are out of the norms of society and he soon becomes a dacoit, who loots the rich and helps the needy.
Sukhilal’s daughter is getting married when Birju kidnaps her and is running away with her. Radha, respecting a girl’s identity, asks Birju to set her free. When Birju does not listen to her, she kills him protecting the dignity of a female. The guts of a true Indian woman become prominent when a mother kills her son for her ideals. Birju dying in his mother’s arm is an emotional scene.
There is a scene in the film when the cut crop catches fire. Radha runs looking for Birju. In reality, while shooting the scene, the fire grew beyond the crew’s control, which put Nargis’s life in danger. Sunil Dutt played on his life and saved her. This event resulted in Sunil Dutt marrying Nargis.
The film is a legend is all respects of film-making. It is a lesson to learn and live with for Indian women, though in real such guts are rare to find. A great work of art.