When Mother India was released in 1957, it was very well-received (and can even be found playing in some theaters today). The title of Mother India clearly refers to the main character of Radha, but her symbol and the themes that she portrays are convoluted and disputable. One aspect of Radha that is fascinating is her multifaceted personality. As Prasad describes in The Texts of Mother India, “If Mother alone knows the secret of your birth her power within culture becomes inviolate and beyond falsification. ‘Mother India’ then represents a monumental problem of Motherness, Sita-ness, and Otherness in Indian culture. Indian culture, which endorses a predominantly patriarchal point of view, has countered this problem of absolute identity of Mother with a single iconic figure by dispersing the symbols onto a number of icons. Through this iconic dispersal Mother is associated with Goddess (here Sita is Lakshmi), with Wife (here Sita is Draupadi), with Lover (here Sita is Radha), and through the slightly contradictory iconography of Kali and Durga, with the Avenger and Destroyer, where Sita embodies Shiva’s female principle” (69). The diversification of Radha’s character highlights the unfair treatment and attitude towards women in India in the 1950s and reflects an evolution of the ideal woman that carries some modern, feminist traits but also retains much of the oppression and subservience of women at the time. While the filmmaker most likely did not intend to evoke such an interpretation, this was the message I received watching this in 2015, 48 years later and during a much more progressive time.
As Prasad mentions, Radha plays many roles in the film – she is a daughter, a wife, a mother, and the “mother” or “keeper” of the village and the people (particularly the women) in it. However, the themes of selflessness, strength, and burden run through all these portrayals. She feeds her family before herself – in one scene, she convinces her young son to give up a plate in exchange for food by saying “Father will starve. Grandma will starve.” She never once mentions herself, and it is in fact her son who recognizes her as an equal human being who will starve. She also gives up her possessions to avoid starvation. She takes care of her invalid husband and works in the fields despite having to take care of children as well. And she is the ultimate protector as well, holding up her children during a flood and ultimately killing her own son to protect a woman in the village. All of these actions require an insane amount of emotional and physical strength. Radha also has countless expectations heaped on her – she must be beautiful, talented, modest, bear several sons, work, raise children, and more. These expectations and Radha’s roles are not ones we would reasonably expect a modern woman today to embody.
However, in Mother India, Radha is depicted as the ideal Hindu woman as well as a reflection of women’s place in culture during that time period. Some of Radha’s actions, such as her protection of women, her refusal to marry the moneylender, her leadership role within the village, and her upholding of moral values over her own children, could be seen as a result of the influence of modernization and feminism. Historically, India was moving into a period of modernization post-independence, as referenced in the movie by the shorts of modern innovations like tractors, electricity, and machines at the very beginning; this shift is perhaps mirrored in Radha’s more independent, modern qualities. However, Radha is still much oppressed in many ways – she is forced to consider and uphold her virtue and honor above all, she is expected to take full care of and responsibility of the children in addition to her other duties (while her husband doesn’t do any childrearing at all), she is seen as responsible for keeping her husband “good” and moral, and she is manhandled and abused by many people in the movie, such as her husband and the moneylender. Politically at this time, women were given equal status by the law; however, they were still heavily mistreated – literacy and education rates for women were very low, child marriage was common, and women were relegated to the household and denied opportunities for advancement. This was more common in rural areas, paralleling Radha’s status as a peasant woman.
Overall, Radha’s multiple forms simultaneously exhibit the patriarchal, idealized, unreasonable image of women while also subtly hinting at the move towards modernization. Radha is undeniably a very strong character, and as a potential symbol of post-independence India, she perhaps showcases that India is evolving and growing. While India still has countless flaws, it is definitely not the dependent, weak country it was under the British.
As Prasad mentions, Radha plays many roles in the film – she is a daughter, a wife, a mother, and the “mother” or “keeper” of the village and the people (particularly the women) in it. However, the themes of selflessness, strength, and burden run through all these portrayals. She feeds her family before herself – in one scene, she convinces her young son to give up a plate in exchange for food by saying “Father will starve. Grandma will starve.” She never once mentions herself, and it is in fact her son who recognizes her as an equal human being who will starve. She also gives up her possessions to avoid starvation. She takes care of her invalid husband and works in the fields despite having to take care of children as well. And she is the ultimate protector as well, holding up her children during a flood and ultimately killing her own son to protect a woman in the village. All of these actions require an insane amount of emotional and physical strength. Radha also has countless expectations heaped on her – she must be beautiful, talented, modest, bear several sons, work, raise children, and more. These expectations and Radha’s roles are not ones we would reasonably expect a modern woman today to embody.
However, in Mother India, Radha is depicted as the ideal Hindu woman as well as a reflection of women’s place in culture during that time period. Some of Radha’s actions, such as her protection of women, her refusal to marry the moneylender, her leadership role within the village, and her upholding of moral values over her own children, could be seen as a result of the influence of modernization and feminism. Historically, India was moving into a period of modernization post-independence, as referenced in the movie by the shorts of modern innovations like tractors, electricity, and machines at the very beginning; this shift is perhaps mirrored in Radha’s more independent, modern qualities. However, Radha is still much oppressed in many ways – she is forced to consider and uphold her virtue and honor above all, she is expected to take full care of and responsibility of the children in addition to her other duties (while her husband doesn’t do any childrearing at all), she is seen as responsible for keeping her husband “good” and moral, and she is manhandled and abused by many people in the movie, such as her husband and the moneylender. Politically at this time, women were given equal status by the law; however, they were still heavily mistreated – literacy and education rates for women were very low, child marriage was common, and women were relegated to the household and denied opportunities for advancement. This was more common in rural areas, paralleling Radha’s status as a peasant woman.
Overall, Radha’s multiple forms simultaneously exhibit the patriarchal, idealized, unreasonable image of women while also subtly hinting at the move towards modernization. Radha is undeniably a very strong character, and as a potential symbol of post-independence India, she perhaps showcases that India is evolving and growing. While India still has countless flaws, it is definitely not the dependent, weak country it was under the British.
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