Let’s admit it. Screen mothers of Bollywood have given real-life moms enough and more pressure to handle in a lifetime. They shed tears at the drop of a hat, cook gajar halwa the moment the son announces that he has passed with a ‘first-class-first’, wait for eternity mouthing ‘mere Karan-Arjun aayenge’? Durga Khote, Nirupa Roy, Nargis, Rakhee, Jaya Bachchan and Reema Lagoo have often made us wonder how they do it. Mercifully, the epitome of sacrifice, morality, goodness and sanity has taken a refreshing break in some films. Meet the non-supermom moms
Dolly Ahluwalia
No words to describe that one scene in Vicky Donor, where a tired, much-frustrated-of-her-son’s-joblessness Mrs. Arora sprawls on her sofa sharing a late-night drink with her mother-in-law, easily in her 80s! The duo bonds like, well, drinking buddies, and heap abuses on one another, yet continue to drink. Iconic line? Mother-in-law to Mrs. Arora: ‘Tu meri galaan da bura na maana kar, hangover vich toh banda kuch bhi bol janda hai’ (You must not feel bad about what I say to you; a person speaks nonsense in a hangover) Epic!
Kirron Kher
Now, we don’t remember when this was done on-screen before or even after in such a flamboyant manner! Kirron Kher sobbing out loud as she comes to terms with a daamaaddamad instead of a bahu for her son. Annoyingly loud yet hilarious, Kirron even presented the much-abused ‘khaandani kangan’ to her ‘bahu’ — John Abraham in Dostana.
Juhi Chawla
Quick, what’s the most important thing a mom must know how to do? Cook, of course. Juhi Chawla in Vivek Sharma’s Bhoothnath doesn’t. She loves her son too much, and gets annoyed with his pranks — all the regular mom stuff. The irregularity in her is that she feeds him just sandwiches and its variants. Heartening to know there is at least one mother out there who is not the queen of the kitchen.
Zohra Sehgal
At 101, she’s the oldest, yet most vivacious, of them all. Zohra Sehgal has also had the distinction in R. Balki’s Cheeni Kum of not just playing Amitabh Bachchan’s mom, but also admonishing him for his tardiness, for missing gym sessions, and for being a workaholic. Top that with being a bad cook and also the source of his sharp tongue. So much for the sanskaari mom!
Ratna Pathak
She played a Rathore wife and mother in Jaane Tu… Ya Yaa Jaane Na, who cringes at the thought of her son getting into a clan battle like her slain husband, and does everything in her power, with her sarcastic tongue, to prevent it. She doesn’t approve of much that her son does, echoing the modern mom. Picture this: Jai tells his mother how upset his friend Aditi Mahant is that five years of college life have come to an end and wonders where they vanished. Pat comes the reply, “On the phone, beta.” True that.
