Mother India (1957)

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

Funny, strange, confrontational and subversive, this is one of the most interesting experiences you'll have at the cinema this year.

Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

Let me start of by saying that I can definitely appreciate a good and honest Indian drama but that I'm not really into the more typical Bollywood kind of melodrama's, such as this movie is obviously being. In my opinion you just can't have a real good and powerful drama when your movie is so colorful looking and features happy songs and dancing. I can still definitely watch this movie and also still appreciate it for most part but I just can't really see how this movie can be regarded as an emotionally strong one and one of the greatest- and best known Indian movies.It's an heavy handed movie, that is being quite long with its running time of nearly 3 hours. It's hard to keep any kind of movie interesting to watch for 3 hours, so this is also something that the movie suffers from. I wouldn't necessarily call the movie slow or boring but its still being unnecessary long.The story is still what keeps the movie going and in itself there is very little wrong with it, though it's just a bit too stretched out all. Some elements should had been either cut out or the movie perhaps would had worked out better if the entire story got divided amongst two or perhaps even three separate movies. It's all being quite melodramatic all and it's also quite cliché and predictable but it still keep things going at all time.A thing that worked out distracting, next to its songs and dance routines, that all seemed and sounded alike, was the fact that some exterior shoots obviously got shot indoors. The movie is some fake looking studio work out times, with fake looking backgrounds and all of those sort of things.And to be honest, the directing of this movie was absolutely dreadful at times. Sometimes certain scene's don't flow at all and the movie seems to take some awkward cuts and sudden leaps in time. The movie can get real amateur like looking to be honest at times, when it comes down to its directing.No, it's not an horrible movie by any means but I still can't really seem to understand why it's being regarded so highly, not only just by Bollywood-fans but by all sorts of movie viewers, from all over the world, while its in fact being an heavily flawed movie.7/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

I was surprised to read the comments from Mr Dilip. Mr Dilip, I thinkyou didn't get a good print or you were not able to concentrate for some reason. This movie is a emotionally gripping tale of humanity, dignity and self-respect! Hats off to the team! It should have got an Oscar. But the Oscar committee does not appreciate songs in movies because Hollywood clearly lacks the talent for composing songs for movie sequences. They have to make "explicit musicals" to do so. What a pity ! India has produced great music directors for movies. Nargis did a great job in this movie along with other actors and actresses. The music is just unforgettable. Naushad will always be remembered for the haunting tunes.

Nargis stars as a suffering woman, Radha, experiencing tragedy after tragedy, surviving it all. The first half of the film doesn't promise anything overly special. A poor community falls under the weight of a moneylender, Sukhilala. When Radha marries, her mother-in-law mortgages her farm to pay for the wedding and Radha's jewlery. Since the mother-in-law has no education whatsoever, Sukhilala, probably the only educated man in the village, is able to take advantage of her. When she challenges Sukhilala's claim, she can't do much to disprove their deal. This part of the story is pretty cliché, rather predictable and very questionable. Sukhilala is a fairly standard villain, very cartoonish and simplistic. The audience is programmed to hiss at his every appearance. The conflict is compelling, but I was hoping for something more complex. It is nice, I suppose, to see the system challenged, but the fact that the system is challenged does not necessarily mean that the film challenges the system in an insightful manner. In reality, the film's solutions to the problems are all melodramatics.Luckily, something else is brewing in the film at this point. Radha has two sons, Ramu and Birju. The story starts to focus in on Birju, who is very obnoxious. His mother loves him dearly, spoils him, and he becomes simply evil. I should say at this point that the little kid who plays him as a child, Master Sajid, is very, very annoying, not to mention a terrible little actor. As an adult, Birju is a devil. Sukhilala still runs the place, and now Birju is big enough to do something about it. Thankfully, Birju is not made a hero. Well, perhaps an anti-hero, but at least we're spared him becoming an Indian Robin Hood as I expected. Complexities begin to develop in the way Sukhilala is depicted, and, while he's still the villain, the audience is no longer programmed to despise him on site. Radha has to both protect her son and stand up for what is right. The climax is so extremely impressive that I was almost convinced that the film was great.Yet the film is not what I would call great as a whole. There were dozens of scenes that I loved, but, as the film goes on for three hours, there was plenty to dislike, as well. The fat and gristle detract. Did I mention there are great songs? Great indeed! I love Hindi music myself. The cinematography is also often exceptional. 8/10.

A movie of an epic proportion in the true sense of the word. Easily, one of the greatest films ever made regardless of any cultural, traditional, social, and ethnical background to consider.