Mother India

The classic Mother India was a remake of Aurat also made by director Mehboob. Yet the movie cast brilliantly with Nargis, new comer Raaj Kumar, Sunil Dutt and Rajinder Kumar. That Nargis was only twenty eight years old when she acted as the mother of grown up sons Birju ( Sunil Dutt) and Rajinder Kumar is astonishing. The melodrama depicting the sad life of exploited small time farmer in rural India was sad. Raaj Kumar's portrayal of Nargis' husband presented a new style of acting, dignified, restrained and tragic. His resonant voice was an effective instrument which he used in so many later films. Color photography, music, acting and dialogues were all of a very high calibre at the time( late fifties). That Nargis later married Sunil Dutt surprised many movie fans in India. But she remained steadfast in the marriage was in character of this great actress who died young.

Nargis is wonderful in this movie. It shows the hope and loss in a life. What is also shows is life is not better for the villagers in India now as it was then. The hope shown is hope lost in today's reality. However for any movies buff who watches the 1940s US movies we are a lost people too. So much potential for both our countries that to see these movies and see the now reality we are much closer to the reality of " Brazil" ( the movie) than any hopeful future shown in this movie. It is well worth watching and we all know the plight of Women in India is no better today. Just as here only a few rich women get the dream.

Its a very well made movie and the acting is greatHowever, i had to turn it off for a while because of the sadness and unfair suffering the family went through

So happy with the purchase of this video. The quality of the dvd is excellent; the color is satisfactory; the English subtitles were very welcome since no one in my family speaks Hindi. Overall, thank you so much for this product. Money well spent.

This is an important film, which deserves a competent restoration, plus commentaries, which would be especially helpful for those with limited knowledge of the cultural and historical context of the film.Major technical issues - 130 min. long. vs 2:47 for the full version on Amazon Prime video (via Eros subscription) - VERY ANNOYING Shiboob logo in the lower right hand corner - displayed throughout - What looks like camera shake was probably a problem with a crappy transfer to DVD - Sound quality is also poor - There are some very awkward cuts and cutoffs - No English translations of song lyrics - as presented, scene sequences don't follow logically from previous scene sequences - pan shots are very blurry - likely another problem from a poor transfer, since other films from 1957 don't have this problem.DON'T BUY THIS! If you are interested in the film, find a good edition of it.

I absolutley LOVE this movie! I like to watch a long movie that makes it worthwhile to keep watching and this one shows the joys and sorrows in the life of a young woman until her elderly years. The actors are gorgeous and that little boy should have one an Oscar!

Everything about it is good

This movie is a good culture study that follows the life of a pretty village woman who is married off in an arranged marriage. The families involved are common folk and farmers. The new couple have to live in the mother-in-law's house and they all struggle to make ends meet. The mother-in-law has borrowed a great deal from the local money lender to pull off the (for them) lavish wedding. Trouble soon starts between the family and the money lender. As the woman has more children, the film depicts family life in a poor farming family. Their troubles continue with bad weather, flooding, bad luck on the farm, and continuing problems with the money lender. Bad luck strikes the family numerous times, but the brave woman continues to struggle. The title seems to project the struggles of the poor farmers of India with the struggles of the newly minted nation of India itself. And in the end to survive.This film takes the Westerner out of their comfort zone and shows that even the poor in America are rich compared to many of the poor in the third world.Tony

We're very disappointed. We ordered it in English and it came in we assume the Indian language as we could not understand it so we were disappointed

If, like me, you're fairly new to Indian cinema and think, as I did, that it's all singing and dancing Bollywood, here is a brilliant mix of what we might expect and an epic tale that we in the West can really appreciate and enjoy.I'd only been to the monochrome world of Indian director Satyajit Ray before and frankly, I didn't seem to appreciate those as much as many do. In time, I trust that I will. Mother India, which I bought blind, seemed to be like approaching, say opera, by going to see one that was commercially accessible but maybe not what the purest of critics might approve of. That is was also Oscar nominated in the World cinema category is also testament of how popular and well thought of Mehboob Khan's Indian masterpiece was.I personally feel that the often quoted "Indian Gone with the Wind" is both somewhat false and misleading. True, its scope and length as well as the beautifully lavish Technicolor (must have been very expensive to make at the time) bear comparison. The central character is no Hindu Vivien Leigh either and even more amiss is that it's not set against a background of War.The war, indeed, centres around land, land on which to sustain a crop, enough to feed one and one's family. Greedy landowners are the Generals here who cruelly tax their tenants ever harder. Mother Nature herself is also a strict and tempestuous taskmaster as famine and disease strike.The undoubted stars are the cinematography and the Mother of the title. There is a huge sweep of panoramic camera as harvesting scenes, rivalling that of Russian propaganda films and bright sharp colours fill every frame.Nargis, as peasant woman, played by actress Radha, tells us the epic story of her life in flashback, charting how, as a young bride, she arrived at a farm mortgaged to an unscrupulous moneylender. Her husband is then injured in an accident and abandons her and their children, Radha perseveres to bring up her sons and cultivate the land.As is often, so far as I can tell, the case with Indian drama, the family and its issues are paramount and great lengths are taken to explore all moral angles and Mother Earth is no different.Yes, it does swell into high emotion and near melodrama but that's Indian cinema for you, but equally pathos and despair are equally and dramatically handled. The sound, though, is unfortunately, pretty ropey, breaking up with each sibilant word and with a background of quiet crackles.One reviewer complained of poor subtitling - on my DVD (confirmed Amazon purchase) they are fine and include the lyrics to the songs, but maybe mine is a later release. The songs add to the narrative, not the other way around and much is dialogue. The singing is usually actually very lyrical and beautiful, so that it's welcomed, which isn't what I had expected to be the case.

Ein Epos mit berauschenden Bildern und Szenen voller Pathos. Dieser Film zeigt Drama ohne Ende, ein Schicksalsschlag jagt hier den nächsten. Wenn man 'Mother India' mit 'Swades' und 'K3G' vergleicht, kann man erkennen wie weit sich der indische Film weiterentwickelt hat. Im Vergleich zu diesen modernen Produktionen wirkt dieser Film von 1957 archaisch, roh und stummfilmartig überzogen gespielt. Die Inszenierung von Regisseur Mehboob ist wuchtig und erinnert mich ein wenig an Eisensteinfilme wie z.B. 'Iwan, der Schreckliche', die Musik von Naushad ist wie zu erwarten eher altmodisch.Als Liebhaber indischer Filme sollte man diesen sozialkritischen Film anschauen, um zu sehen auf welchem Hintergrundwissen der indischen Zuschauer die heutigen Filme aufbauen. Aber auch für sich selbst genommen ist der Film durchaus sehenswert. Er zeigt den Lebensweg einer Bäuerin von der Hochzeit bis ins hohe Alter. In der Darstellung dieser starken Frauengestalt ist der Film moderner als die meisten heutigen indischen Filme, die ich bisher gesehen habe.Hier hält eine Mutter (Nargis) ihre Kinder und den Hof ihrer Familie praktisch nur durch ihren Willen und ihre Überzeugungen am Leben. Zwar verliert sie zwei Kinder an den Hunger und den größten Teil der Anbaufläche an den wucherischen und betrügerischen Geldverleiher (Kanhaiya Lal), aber wo andere aufgeben (Flut) hält sie durch und ist Vorbild für die ganze Dorfgemeinschaft. Zwar stellt diese Frau nicht eine Tradition in Frage, möge sie uns modernen Westlern noch so ungerecht erscheinen, aber sie tut dies mit der Überzeugung, dass diese Traditionen das Dorfleben regeln und für die Sicherheit des Sozialgefüges sorgen. Und mit welcher Kraft und Durchhaltewillen diese Frau auf alle Schicksalsschläge reagiert kann uns auch heute noch als Vorbild dienen.Kaum eine Frauengestalt des modernen indischen Films erreicht diese Intensität. Weder die Kriegerprinzessin Kaurwaki in 'Asoka' noch die erfolgreiche Schulleiterin Gita in 'Swades' strahlen diese trotz aller Fesseln brodelnde Kraft aus. Dabei gehören die eben genannten für mich bisher zu den beeindruckendsten Frauenfiguren des modernen indischen Films. Einzig die Filme 'Satta', 'Pehchaan' und 'Daman' weisen für mich ähnlich starke Frauengestalten auf. In allen drei Filmen spielt Raveena Tandon die Hauptrolle, so dass es sein mag, dass das indische Publikum einfach keine starken Frauenrollen sehen will. Jedenfalls habe ich keinen der anderen weiblichen Stars Indiens bisher mit ähnlich überzeugender Intensität ein weibliches Schicksal spielen sehen wie Nargis oder Raveena Tandon.Meiner Ansicht nach gehört 'Mother India' zu den Klassikern des indischen Films und daher in die Oberklasse meiner ca. 90 bisher gesehenen indischen Filme.DVD: es gibt keine Zusatzmaterialien, das Menü wird nicht durch die normale Fernbedienungstaste sondern über die Taste 'Titel' erreicht, es gibt 26 Kapitel, bei den anwählbaren 12 Songs fehlen die Untertitel, die englischen Untertitel sind ansonsten OK, das Bild-Verhältnis ist 4:3. Obwohl der 163 Minuten lange Farbfilm als 'Universal, suitable for all' eingestuft ist, finde ich ihn wegen Prügel- und noch gewalttätigerer Selbstjustiz-Szenen für jüngere Kinder nicht geeignet.

Pour les amateurs de cinéma Indien dont je fais partie, c'est une très grande joie de savoir que cet éternel chef d'oeuvre est enfin disponible ! Méconnu en France, il avait pourtant connu une présentation en sourdine dans les années 80 au petit cinéma Delta, près de Barbès, depuis longtemps disparu et dont plus personne sans doute ne se souvient. C'est grâce aux succès de Lagaan et de Devdas que le grand public français peut enfin le découvrir. Ceux qui affectionnent les classiques de Satyajit Ray, plus sobres et plus austères, resteront sans doute de marbre devant ce summum du mélo kitch et rétro, il n'en demeure pas moins l'un des chefs d'oeuvre du cinéma indien des années cinquante. Nargis était une grandiose et merveilleuse actrice ! Comment ne pas être boulversé par son interprétation mémorable de cette femme qui lutte pour sauver sa famille. Le film fait songer par certains côtés à Autant en emporte le Vent. Ne boudez pas votre plaisir. Si vous avez aimé Devdas ou Lagaan, vous aimerez sûrement ce très beau film.Que les producteurs de ce DVD soient remerciés et je me permets de leur suggérer - pourquoi pas ? - de sortir d'autres chefs d'oeuvre comme "Mughal-e Azam" et tant d'autres méconnus !Bahut bahut chukria !!!

As an Indian have seen it many times. I love the film. The story of a Mothers sacrifice takes it's toll but the mother doesn't give up. I actually bought this DVD for a English friend who wanted to see the film after telling him the story. He loves it too.