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Mother India (1957)

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Average Rating: 6.3/10
Reviews Counted: 6
Fresh: 5 | Rotten: 1

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Critic Reviews: 2
Fresh: 2 | Rotten: 0

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Movie Info

Bharat Mata (Mother India) was Indian filmmaker Mehboob Khan's remake of his own 1940 film Aurat (Woman). The intervening years had somewhat altered Mehboob's attitudes towards his characters and their surroundings. In the original Aurat, an Indian mother (Sardar Akhtar) suffers monumentally on behalf of her two sons, much to the disinterest of the rural community where she lives. In the remake, the mother (now played by Nargis) likewise suffers, but her plight now affects her entire village,

G, 2 hr. 32 min.

Drama, Art House & International, Classics

Directed By: Mehboob Khan

In Theaters: Feb 7, 1957 Wide

On DVD: Feb 25, 2003

Eros Entertainment

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Critic Reviews for Mother India

All Critics (10) | Top Critics (2) | Fresh (5) | Rotten (1)

Often said to have helped set the pattern for the nearly 50 years of Indian film that has followed it.

August 22, 2002 Full Review Source: New York Times

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Dave Kehr

New York Times

Top Critic

An outrageous masala of apparently discordant elements.

August 20, 2002 Full Review Source: Village Voice

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J. Hoberman

Village Voice

Top Critic

The most popular film in Indian history -- it's said to have been playing somewhere in the country every day since its release.

August 22, 2002 Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide

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TV Guide's Movie Guide

Throughout Mother India, [Mehboob] presents the landscape, the crops, the herds of livestock practically as characters in themselves.

August 16, 2002 Full Review Source: culturevulture.net

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George Wu

culturevulture.net

A gem made in the 'Golden Age' of Indian cinema.

August 15, 2002 Full Review Source: BBC

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Sandi Chaitram

BBC

The only thing this ponderous Bollywood epic could inspire is matricide.

August 14, 2002 Full Review Source: Film Threat

| Comment (1)

Phil Hall

Film Threat

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Audience Reviews for Mother India

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Mother India Films like Mother India, paved ways for trend in which movies were to be made in India. It Stars, Nargis as Mother India, and Suniel Dutt as her son Birju (real-life husband of Nargis). This film has unique story to it, and something that is way beyond the story full of entertainment and dramatic saga. I

April 9, 2011

Sarfaraz Abbasi

the Epic story of a Lifetime of a Poor Indian Woman, and also the tale of taking Decisions. Mehboob Khan maintained the integrity of Indian Cinema, when only Songs and Dances where made hit.

July 20, 2011