Mother India
Mehboob Khan · 1957
Mother India (1957), directed by Mehboob Khan, is a Hindi-language drama starring Nargis as Radha, a woman who withstands drought, debt, and betrayal to uphold dignity in a newly independent India. Adapted from Khan’s 1940 film Aurat and written by S. Ali Raza, it counters Katherine Mayo’s polemical 1927 book of the same name by casting rural motherhood as the ethical core of the nation. Shot across villages in Maharashtra, Gujarat, and Uttar Pradesh, with music by Naushad and cinematography by Faredoon Irani, it blends vernacular realism and Hindu mythic framing. At 172 minutes, it moves deliberately, anchoring its vision of resilience in agricultural labour, moral choice, and communal endurance.