Mother India
Mehboob Khan, 1957, 174 min

Introduced by Ranjit S. Ruprai and followed by discussion with film studies teacher and researcher Dr. Kulraj Phullar

Mehboob Khan takes an individual woman’s story of rural poverty and hardship (Nargis as farmer Radha) and makes it worthy of a grand epic. Radha’s struggle against continual tragedies throughout her life, yet surviving with dignity intact, symbolises the effort of a newly independent nation within international structures that still favoured former colonial powers. The title intentionally references and rebukes Katherine Mayo’s American book of the same name: an anti-Indian diatribe from 1927 arguing against self-rule. 30 years later, Khan’s proud Mother India became India's first submission and nomination for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

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Screening as part of The Revolutionary Cinema double bill