Cine Maa: The mother’s deep-frozen image in Hindi cinema-Entertainment News , Firstpost
On the occasion of Mother’s Day, let’s analyse the transition of Bollywood moms in films over the years.
Think of screen mothers, and Nirupa Roy, Leela Chitnis, Sulochana and Durga Khote immediately come to mind. These long-suffering matriarchs had nothing to look forward to in life except to make their sons’ favourite dishes and toil over that old sewing machine which has seen better days (just like the matriarch) and to make sure Sonny Boy’s dreams come true.
The Chanda hai tu mera suraj hai tu prototype got a makeover when Salman Khan wanted Reema Lagoo to play his mother. Suddenly the Mom was having some fun. She was singing dancing and even flirting with her samdhiji (Anupam Kher) in Hum Aapke Hain Koun.
The mother as the avenging angel was the next stopover for the movie matriarch. Raakhee Gulzar pioneered and patented this new matriarchal avatar but admits it got boring soon enough. “At least the mothers I played were less docile, more assertive. In Rakesh Roshan’s Karan Arjun and Subhash Ghai’s Ram Lakhan mine was the pivotal character. The mother wanted revenge and that’s how the plot was empowered. Even earlier in the days of the typical Cine Maa, Nirupa Roy had a powerful role in Yash Chopra’s Deewaar and Durga Khote in Bidaai. But otherwise, mothers have always been pure devoted and dull. Period.”
There were departures from the norm, for example, Sonia Sahni in Raj Kapoor’s Bobby, who goes partying with her husband Pran and leaves the upbringing of her only son to the nanny(played by Durga Khote) only to have her husband taunt her at the end with, “What would you know about being a mother when you never breastfed your son?”
Ouch.
In a little-known film, B R Ishaara’s Kagaz Ki Nao in 1975 Helen played a single mother who dares to have a love life. When her daughter played by Sarika sees her mother having sex she cannot bear the humanization of the traditional mother-goddess figure. Sarika’s character commits suicide. The film posed a question that remains relevant to this day. Why do we deify our parents so much that they cannot lead normal lives?
In Rajinder Singh Bedi’s Phagun(1973) Waheeda Rehman played a spouseless mother who becomes a bone of contention between daughter (Jaya Bhaduri) and her husband (Vijay Arora). Waheeda’s character Shanta even begins to fantasize about her son-in-law. The role killed Waheeda’s career as a leading lady. At 33 she found herself playing mother to her contemporaries Rajesh Khanna and Jeetendra.
In J.Om Prakash’s Apnaapan, Reena Roy gave a stellar performance as a mother who prefers a career to the role of a home-maker. Of course, the script makes her suffer and sob for her ‘sin’. Reena’s spirited performance imbued the mother-figure with flesh blood and bite. Interestingly, she was awarded the Best Supporting Actress. The message on the wall: bad moms are not heroines. Reena rightly turned down the ‘honour’.
In Mansoor Ali Khan’s Akele Hum Akele Tum, Manisha Koirala gives up her career to be a homemaker for Aamir Khan and their 6-year old son. But when boredom sets in, she leaves without the child. Shockingly unconventional, the film directed by Mansoor Khan was inspired by Kramer Versus Kramer. The mom in the original, played by Meryl Streep, was denied custody of her child. In the desi version, mom Manisha comes back home. All is forgiven.
In Vishal Bhardwaj’s Haider the incandescent Tabu was 42 to her screen son Shahid Kapoor’s 33. It wasn’t easy to convince Tabu to turn into a mom. When Vishal offered her the powerful mother’s role Tabu refused outright. Vishal argued that this was no ordinary mother’s role. It was Shakespeare’s Hamlet and she was playing Gertrude the second-most important character in the story. But Tabu was completely against it. Vishal had to spend a lot of time convincing her to do the role until she finally said yes. Was Tabu being bold and creative in playing mother to a leading man only 9 years her junior?
Our audience is extremely conservative at heart. It won’t accept the Cine Maa as anything but a Goddess reincarnated with no life dreams and desires of her own.
More gajar ka halwa, anyone?
Subhash K Jha is a Patna-based film critic who has been writing about Bollywood for long enough to know the industry inside out. He tweets at @SubhashK_Jha.
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