Mother India

Mother India, a film from the 1950’s, stars Nargis, Sunil Dutt, Rajendra Kumar, and Raaj Kumar. The characters go through a journey of attempting to battle and overcome poverty. Radha (Nargis) finds herself in trouble after she marries Shamu (Raaj Kumar), as she finds out that Shamu’s mother took out a loan in order to pay for their wedding. As Radha tries to help alleviate her family of the financial mess they’ve found themselves in due to the wedding costs. As Radha and Shamu try to patch up the fields to pay off the loan. However, Shamu faces a traumatic experience when a boulder falls on his arms, leaving his arms severed. Unable to physically assist his family, Shamu leaves Radha and their two sons, Birju (Sunil Dutt) and Ramu (Rajendra Kumar). Radha and her sons are forced to work in the fields themselves, while suffering from hunger, homelessness, and extreme poverty. As Birjua gets older, his frustrations with poverty and hatred towards the moneylender lead him to antagonize the moneylender’s daughter as well as the other women in the village. This causes the villagers to ostracize him. Upon Birju’s unwanted return, Radha experiences an inner conflict, because she promised the villagers she would kill her son if he ever antagonizes the women of the village again. Ultimately, Radha kills Birju. -Sunali Shah