Mere Paas Ma Hain……Myth of Mothers
Author's Corner — By Sudipto Chattopadhyay on May 9, 2012 5:15 pmPopular cinema adheres to popular myths. Like the icon of the mother. The mother figure is, by and large, a prototype of virtues. Of givingness and caring. Of sacrifice and suffering. We have several examples of these sorts in popular Indian cinema. Mehboob Khan produced and directed Mother India released in 1957. Since then, in public perception the image of that Mother has been engraved as the epitome of motherhood.
Mother India
This myth has largely remained a constant in Hindi cinema with the edified figures like Durga Khote, Leela Chitnis, Nirupa Roy and most notably Nargis in Mother India. The character portrayed by Nargis in the film, makes the supreme sacrifice of killing her son portrayed by Sunil Dutt( Nargis married him later) when he turns a dacoit.
In real life, Nargis was often accused of indulging her son Sanjay Dutt who by all recorded and self confessed evidence had grown up as a drug abuser in his teens. Nirupa Roy played the righteous mother in the 1975 classic Deewar starring Amitabh Bachchan and Shashi Kapoor as her two sons on opposite sides of the law. The dialogue “Mere paas Ma hain”, has become iconographic in its resonances. According to grapevine of her period, Nirupa Roy was a woman who smoked, drank and used abusive language in personal life.
Deewar
We may argue that any actor need not embody the virtues or the vices of the characters they portray on screen in their personal life. But the above examples were drawn upon to establish that in reality there has remained a disconnect with the perceived myth. The counter narrative is as much real as the mainstream narrative of the good mother. But as an audience, we tend to wish away the harshness of this part of reality. We expect our film makers to create myths about mother figures and sanctify them as ‘holy cows’. If they do to the contrary, their films cause consternation and widespread public disapproval.
In Requiem for a Dream released in 2000, Ellen Burstyn was nominated for the Oscars in the Best Actress category. She played a drug abusive uncaring mother lost in her own world. In the 2009 release, Precious, Mo’Nique won the Oscar as the Best Supporting Actress. She played a mother who is aware that her daughter is repeatedly raped and abused by her current husband. She does nothing about it. Hitchcock’s classic Psycho released in 1960 opened Hollywood to accept the reality of the immemorial Oedipal Complex. Today, mainstream American cinema does not shy away from such personal truths.
Bollywood still justifies its negation with the premise that Indian audiences are not yet grown up enough to accept such disturbing truths. It is the same Bollywood that takes a dig at homosexuality with stunning success in Dostana released in 2008, starring two current male icons of Hindi cinema. It is the same Bollywood that has portrayed numerous female protagonists, father figures and siblings in negative light. The fault, if any, is not primarily with the film makers. It is with an audience that negates the notion. Step moms can be vamps. In fact, they are expected to be so. But real mother’s need to be bathed in holy light.
I wonder if this negation stems from the fact that the majority of the nation worships the mother goddess. My notion of the goodness of my mother in personal space does not obliterate the other point of view.
Wonderful article, what do you think about potrayal of Mother in Non Hindi Indian Cinemas, Malayalam Cinema had some shades of Grey if not out and out negative mothers in mainstream cinema.
i agree completely! insightful piece this one, mothers in hindi cinema are always clean white mamta ki moorats, or the step moms evil ones who would come around to the good side aka aruna irani in beta.
Regional cinema perhaps fares better with its portrayal of mothers going a bit beyond the abnormally virtous sita maiiya!
on a second thought, where has the mother disappeared from hindi cinema these days? the last mothers i remember would be ratna pathak shah in jaane tu ya jaane na, or again ratna pathak shah from ek main aur ek tu, comic stereotypes. perhaps modern indians dont need parents in the on screen equations anymore!
perhaps, this weird notion of the virtuous mother is what prevents us from accepting heroines who are now mothers in real lives and are past the age of running around trees, yet too young to actually play moms to their co stars not so long ago. perhaps this is why gifted actresses like juhi, madhuri, sridevi have to wait for years to find a decent script, and no hero to work opposite them!
We Indians as a part of the movie-going audience as you rightly pointed out refuse to distinguish between the onscreen & offscreen persona of our film stars. Btw, the real life avatar of Nirupa roy was quite a shocker. Superb writeup Sudipto once again. Keep ‘em coming
Interestingly, in the movie ‘aatish’ which was a rehash of Deewar, the mother [played by Tanuja] was in support of Baba [reprising Vijay\'s role]. So, Baba got to say the line ‘mere paas maa hai’
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Coming back tho this piece on mothers, I do think their portrayal has matured over the years. We have seen some good realistic portrayals as in the case of Vicky Donor. Even in DDLJ, towards the end, kajol’s mom asks kajol to elope with srk. Kajol does not, and the rest is history
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Mothers in general have taken a back seat in their portrayal. These days they are shown too loud and over the top [Kiron Kher]. Sometimes, they provide only comic relief or to establish that the hero/heroines are not orphans.
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No roles are being written for a strong mother character display, forget characters with shades of grey!
Wasn’t Aatish faithful liftoff of A better Life by John woo
It is a faithful lift of A Better Tomorrow and not A Better Life.
Yes Babai, you are right.
hmm … interesting … haven’t seen the series at all. just did a quick google search and found that the movie has a sequel and a prequel. 3 movies add to my list …
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nevertheless, the larger point made, remains the same
A very good take on an interesting topic-Sudipto. For ages the status of ‘mother’ or ‘motherhood’ was always looked up to with reverence in Bollywood,but I guess things are slowly but surely changing.