Released in: 1957
Cast: Sunil Dutt, Nargis, Raj Kumar, Rajendra Kumar, Kanhaiyalal
Director: Mehboob Khan
Music: Naushad
Lyrics: Shakeel Badayuni
Mehboob Khan’s landmark film Mother India was the first Indian film to be nominated for an Oscar in the best foreign film category in 1958. Mehboob’s film missed the distinction by a solitary vote at the third poll.
Mehboob Khan’s melodrama tells the rural saga of Radha (Nargis), a woman born to suffer, who rises from the ashes of ruination with a dignity and grace that exemplifies Indian womanhood.
The epic begins with the old and frail Radha reliving her turbulent past with her 2 sons (Sunil Dutt and Rajendra Kumar) and their combined fight against feudal oppression, represented by the evil moneylender (Kanhaiyalal). Every moment is gloriously gripping, dipping in and out of the protagonist’s traumatic life, first as an abandoned wife left to fend for herself and her children, then as a mother standing up for the right values.
