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Mother India

“Showing the path is easy, but walking it is hard.”

1957 · 2 h 52 min
Directed by Mehboob Khan

Cast

Nargis Sunil Dutt Rajendra Kumar Raaj Kumar

Credits

Written by: Wajahat Mirza

Plot

Radha, a poor Indian peasant woman, struggles to bring up her sons after her husband is maimed in an accident. Preyed on by a moneylender and facing hunger, floods and the temptations of her rebellious son Birju, she holds to her moral principles at great cost. Mehboob Khan's 1957 epic, with Nargis, a remake of his own Aurat, was nominated for an Academy Award and remains a defining image of Indian cinema.

Sinekatalog’s take

Mehboob Khan's epic of a poor mother's struggle is a landmark of Indian cinema. Nargis gives a towering performance, and the film's grand melodrama and moral force made it an enduring national classic.Sinekatalog’s own editorial review – not a user or critic quote.

Ratings

IMDb: 7.8 / 10 (10,518 votes)
IMDb rating and vote count from the IMDb ratings dataset (October 2026). Scores change over time.

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