WOH SITAAREN JINHONE MAA KE KIRDAAR NIBHANE MEIN CHAAR CHAND LAGA DI - By Ali Peter John

Hey Maa, tere bin main kya karta, yeh desh kya karta, yeh duniya kya karti aur yeh Hindi filmon ki duniya kya karti? - Ali Peter John

I have often been thinking about what some great Hindi films would be without the strong character of the mother (Maa) played by some of the best actresses of different times.

What would “Mother India” be without the formidable performance of Nargis who played the mother of Sunil Dutt, the bad son and Rajendra Kumar, the good son and her superb performance after which she gave up films except for one film, “Raat Aur Din” in which too she was the highlight because of her performance!

What would a film like “Deewar” be without the well-written role of the mother played be “Nirupa Roy” who used to play the role of goddesses till then and what role she played as the mother of Shashi Kapoor and Amitabh Bachchan after which film she was never the same again!

What would several films like “Karma”, “Naam”, “Saajan Bina Suhagan” and “Itihaas” be without the superb and sensitive performances of Nutan as the mother!

What would a TV film like “Swayam” made by Mahesh Bhatt and films like “Delhi-6”, “Lamhe”, “Kabhi Kabhie” and others emotional and interesting film made in the 80s and 90s be without the true to life performances of a great actress like Waheeda Rehman!

What would films like “Amba”, “Godmother” and “Avtaar” be without the realistic performances of Shabana Azmi who also won major awards for her performances in these films, and the same can be said about her contemporary colleague and rival Smita Patil!

What would a film like “Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge” be without “Farida Jalal” playing the mother of Kajol and the wife of Amrish Puri!

What would a film like Rajiv Kapoor’s “Prem Granth” be without Madhuri Dixit playing the young and tormented mother in this film “Prem Granth”!

And what would a film like “Mom” be without an amazing farewell performance by the “computer actress” (Yash Chopra said her like that) Sridevi!

There may be some other marvelous performance I may have missed, but let it be known that I’m not writing a history of actresses playing mothers’ role, I’m only paying my tribute some great actresses who has excelled as leading lady and also grown up to play roles of great mothers when they were challenged to play them.

KYA HUM YEHI BAAT ALIYA BHATT, KAREENA KAPOOR, RANI MUKERJEE OR SONAM KAPOOR JAISE SITARON KE BAARE MEIN KEH SAKENGE AANE WALE SAMAY MEIN…?