Underplayed Gems

Maa (1952)

Maa poster
Original title
माँ
Directed by
Bimal Roy
Genre
drama film
Country
India
Runtime
2h
Rating
7.0 of 10 from 1 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
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How it feels

A mother makes sacrifices for her family. The film focuses on her devotion and the bond between her and her son.

sentimentalmelodramaticrestrainedfamily-focusedemotionalclassictenderserious

What happens

Maa (Mother) is a 1952 Indian Hindi-language social family drama directed by Bimal Roy for Bombay Talkies. Bimal Roy was asked to come to Bombay from Calcutta to direct the film for the studio, which was going through bad times. Bombay Talkies' earlier favourite Leela Chitnis was cast in the eponymous role of Mother. This was the first film Roy directed in Bombay. Later, he was to break away and form his own production company: Bimal Roy Productions. The first film he produced and directed under his new banner was Do Bigha Zameen (1953), the next year. The cinematographer was Josef Wirsching. The film's music was composed by S. K. Pal with lyrics by Bharat Vyas. The film co-starred Bharat Bhushan, Shyama, Nazir Hussain, Mehmood and B. M. Vyas. The story was said to be adapted loosely from the old Hollywood film Over The Hills, which was about a "self-sacrificing son and his mother". According to B. D. Garga, the film's sentimental melodrama was handled with intelligence and finesse by Roy, which stopped it from becoming a "mushy tear-jerker". The 1979 film Khandaan is a remake of this film and it was in turn remade in Telugu as Jeevitha Ratnam (1981). (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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