New Delhi, May 11: The New Age mother has found a new voice. The screen mother — in ads and films — is its surest symbol. From Nargis in Mother India to Jaya Bachchan in K3G, the oil-bathed Lalitaji to the capri-wearing woman of today`s ads, mummy`s come a long way. Sunday Times celebrates Mother`s Day with a tribute Some mothers do `ave them. Specially if they belong to the Bollywood biradari. Standing behind the hero, they have laid down the laws of life — those even the hero can`t mess around with — much more than the cops and pundits have. And for their great deeds they have often got etched in Bollywood`s hall of fame as the famous last words of the hero in film after film. Count the number of times Birju and Vijay have collapsed in their mothers arms, battered, bruised and ketchupy red, screaming `Ma-a-a`. Your fingers will fall short, for even today Bollywood`s seminal quote remains `Mere paas Maa hai`, (Shashi Kapoor in Deewar).
Of late, the maa-bhakti has seen a decline in popular cinema. With the new bratpack taking over, Dad has become a recurring symbol of the New Age parent. So that, you either have the despotic Amrish Puri or the Mom-ish Anupam Kher laying down the rules of the game for the Dulhaniyas and the Dilwales.
Add to this Tellywood`s mutation of the mother figure and look what you have: Overmade mannequins who are essentially Cruella clones (Kahin Kissi Roz, Kehta Hai Dil) or the Kanjeevaram clan of kind souls. These are essentially Revlon avtaars of the traditional mom who has just shed her crumpled cottons and her sewing machine for a VLCC make-over and a cell phone.
Traipsing through the gallery of screen moms... The Mother of All Moms: Who else but Mother India (Nargis). With the plough in one hand and the gun in another, this steel woman set the trend for the voice-of-conscience character in popular soap and cinema. Her new-age avtaar: Reema Lagu who shoots son Sanjay Dutt in Vastav.



The Flubber of All Moms: Crumpled and kitschy Nirupa Roy who mothered the Shahenshah through 70`s and 80`s. Was it mothered or smothered with her daily dose of dos and dont`s thrust down the larger-than-life son`s throat so that he never turned errant. Ironically, he almost always did.



The Mantelpiece Mom: Sweet, simple and somewhat pretty, Rima Lagu was perfect material for even the `samdhi` (daughter-in-laws dad) to flirt with. (Maine Pyaar Kiya, Hum Aapke Hain Kaun). But when it came to wearing the pants, she preferred to slink into the kitchen and stir up some gajar ka halwa while the Dad and son slugged it out on pyar, parampara, anushashan.



The New Age Mom: Well, well, well — Mom`s finally learnt to say `No` to Dad and tell him he was wrong. Remember Jaya Bachchan in Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham? With quiet dignity, she finds her voice despite the binds of patriarchy and pulls down the pati-as-parmeshwar veneer from a domineering husband-father figure. Earlier, in Fiza she played the single parent with stature and aplomb. No squishy wailing and moaning. And no, no sewing machines at all.



The Masala Mom: Bindu. In film after film, this teflon mom prefers to do a sister act with her daughter, matching trinket for trinket, flirtation for flirtation. Her raison d`etre? To hook the richest boy...for her daughter.



The Nukkad Mom: The perfect foster mother who was filled with the milk of human kindness...Who else but Lalita Pawar as the kelewali (banana seller) in Sri 420 and the maternal nurse in Anand. Mothering the homeless orphan (Raj Kapoor and Rajesh Khanna) was never so dramatic and dignified.



The Plastic Moms: All the mothers and mothers-in-law in the K series on the tube.