Mother’s Day: Five most popular actresses as mothers

Mother’s Day celebrates the loving, nurturing humans who quite literally moulded us to be who we are today. Celebrating them for just a day can hardly commemorate their value and importance. Occasionally though, Bollywood can do wonders, and portray a mother’s undying love quite accurately (along with a lot of the unnecessary drama). So, on the occasion of Mother’s Day.

BizAsiaLive.com looks back to a few on-screen Bollywood mothers who have showcased the essence of this infinite love. Whatever said and done nothing beats “maa ka pyaar”.

Nirupa Roy
Nirupa Roy’s is the typical matriarch image that pops into most our heads when we think of a filmy mother. She is the unofficial holy mother of sorrows, always losing something like her eyesight, or her kids, or at times, both. Roy is literally dubbed as the “Queen of Misery” in Hindi film circles, and I wish I was making that up. I agree that mothers have it hard, but Nirupa Roy has it the worst. In a career spanning 50 years, she played the role of a mother in over 150 films, notably to Amitabh Bachchan in superhits such as ‘Deewar’ (1975), ‘Amar Akbar Anthony’ (1977) and ‘Suhaag’ (1979).

Aruna Irani
With more than 300 movies to her credit, Irani wonderfully transitioned from a yesteryear leading lady to playing motherly roles from the late 1980’s onwards. Best known for her role as an evil mother in ‘Beta’ (1992), which won her a Filmfare award for Best Supporting actress, Irani also played the role of a mother in superhits such as ‘Laadla’ (1994), ‘Raja Babu’ (1994) and ‘Hamesha’ (1997).

Farida Jalal
Jalal known for her brilliant comic timings, portrayed motherly roles in some of the biggest blockbusters in the 90’s including ‘Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge’ (1995), ‘Raja Hindustani’ (1996), ‘Dil To Pagal Hai’ (1997) and ‘Kuch Kuch Hota Hai’ (1998), winning three Filmfare awards for Best Supporting Actress along the way. Jalal also continued to play the maternal role on the small screen in tv serials such as `Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi’ and `Dekh Bhai Dekh’.

Kirron Kher
Kher is the quintessential Punjabi mummy-ji of the industry, portraying the role to perfection in films such as ‘Rang De Basanti’ (2006), ‘Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna’ (2006) and ‘Dostana’ (2008). Having made her entry into mainstream Bollywood at a relatively late age of 44, Kher went on win the IIFA Best Supporting Actress Award for ‘Devdas’ (2003) and National Award for ‘Punjab 1984’ in which she portrayed the role of a strong yet frail Satwant Kaur, who searches for her missing son.

Reema Lagoo
Soft spoken, and yet known for her powerful performances , Lagoo achieved critical acclaim for playing the mother’s roles in blockbusters such as ‘Maine Pyar Kiya’ (1989), ‘Hum Aapke Hain Koun’ (1994), ‘Kuch Kuch Hota Hai’ (1998), ‘Hum Saath Saath Hain’ (1999) and ‘Kal Ho Na Ho’ (2003). Lagoo’s portrayal of an anguished mother who kills her gangster son in ‘Vaastav’ (1999), cemented her place as one of the most dependable supporting actresses of the industry. In 1992, Lagoo had no less than fourteen films released, all in which she played the role of a mother.