Old Movies ----- Classic movie Mother

Mother India was a movie, made in the late 50s, which glorified the supreme sacrifice and hardships of a mother. She existed only to be able to take care of him, but when she had to choose between values and her son, she chose the former.

The movies made in the 70s and 80s continued to put the mother figure on a pedestal. I was leafing through the book, Bollywood posters, when I entered the world of old Hindi/Bollywood movies.

The mother, most likely a widow - dressed unglamorously in a plain white sari, was supremely sacrificial, virtuous, full of love, underwent numerous hardships and sufferings, shed a lot of tears but never gave up on her children.

She toiled all day and night to ensure that her children would have a better education and hence a better life. When, she felt sad, she sang melancholic songs, to lighten her heart, while expressing her sorrow.

When her children grew up, one of her sons or her only son usually got influenced by bad company and went astray, but mother never gave up on him. Despite being perpetually tired and hungry, she relentlessly spent wakeful nights awaiting his return. And eventually her wayward son, who had never found peace or joy in his "evil" ways, gave them up and returned to her open arms.

In case of young sons - that went missing, the movie theme song came in handy. When little ones either lost their way home or got kidnapped by the goondas - the big evil guys, it was only after they had sung the movie theme song with their family or mother numerous times.

So, they then practically spend the next three hours of their movie lives running into obstacles of all possible and impossible kind, enduring multiple twist and turns, and singing many songs including the one they sang before getting lost. And, finally singing "the song" at the right moment and right place ensured a tearful, yet joyous reunion.

Naturally, I wanted our family to have a theme song, at first we couldn't decide on one, then my boys were younger, but as they got older they stopped taking me seriously, it ended up being a lost cause. At least, now that they are older they know how to get home, if they happen to get lost. If they ever do watch any of these old movies even partially, their reactions vary from mild amusement to complete disbelief. 

Back in those days we cried, especially, if the mother or the hero died. We understood if the hero wanted revenge for his mother’s death or an injustice meted out to her that managed to  ruin her life. The white and the black, the good and the bad characters were clearly marked and well pronounced. It made life easy.

The shades of gray were missing, now as they are more acknowledged in movies as in life, does it dilute "real" relationships or make them stronger?