Artwork drawn from the title — how & why
4

Ranked #4 of 100

Mother India

मदर इंडिया · 1957

A woman drags a village out of famine and debt, then shoots her own son for its honour. India's first Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language Film.

Director
Mehboob Khan
Year
1957
Genre
Drama
Cast
Nargis, Sunil Dutt, Rajendra Kumar

Why it's at number 4

The founding myth of the post-Independence nation, told through one woman's spine.

A woman drags a village out of famine and debt, then shoots her own son for its honour. India's first Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language Film.

Mother India sits in the 1950s alongside Pyaasa and Awaara — a decade this canon treats as foundational.

The Bollywood 100

The essentials

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