Frames of patriarchy

The three films together — Mother India, DDLJ and Laapataa Ladies — form an intriguing triptych, going beyond clichés of women's empowerment and women imagining their futures. Born of the multicultural ethos of Bombay (now Mumbai), the films are centred around the unchanging, ruthless facets of patriarchy and the hammer-force of a centuries-old hierarchical social order, inflexible and exploitative. Mother India lost out on the Best Foreign Film award to the European film Nights of Cabiria by a single vote; Mehboob Khan, the doyen among Indian filmmakers had to step aside as Italy's Federico Fellini bagged the award

- RAJU MANSUKHANI

With 'Laapataa Ladies' (renamed 'Lost Ladies') as India's official entry to the Oscars, 2024-25 will be a landmark year for Hindi cinema regardless of the decision of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. It will mark 66 years of 'Mother India' as India's first entry to the Oscars in 1958. It will also mark 30 years of 'Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge' (DDLJ), the longest-running Hindi film at Maratha Mandir in Mumbai, which has broken more records than can be enumerated.

Mother India and DDLJ not only made cinema history, the films captured changing realities of Bharat and India through their storylines, finely-etched characters, stirring dialogues, dramatic and picturesque locations, with song-and-dance sequences becoming a part of our collective imagination.

The three films together — Mother India, DDLJ and Laapataa Ladies — form an intriguing triptych, going beyond clichés of women's empowerment and women imagining their futures. Born of the multicultural ethos of Bombay (now Mumbai), the films are centred around the unchanging, ruthless facets of patriarchy and the hammer-force of a centuries-old hierarchical social order, inflexible and exploitative.