Ahead of Balan: The Boy‘s OTT debut, we revisit 10 unforgettable movie mothers who shattered the saintly stereotype with love, obsession, revenge and ambition.
Key Points
- Chidambaram S Poduval’s Balan: The Boy features a mother who goes to extreme, morally grey lengths, including murder, to protect her son, challenging traditional cinematic portrayals.
- Indian cinema has historically depicted mothers as either suffering, self-sacrificing, or morally upright figures, often in clichéd roles.
- From ghostly protectors and revenge-driven mothers to career-first women and toxic parents, these movie mamas have broken away from familiar cinematic stereotypes.
After receiving positive reviews and enjoying a successful box office run, Balan: The Boy is coming to Z5 on July 31.
Chidambaram S Poduval’s third film as a director revolves around a mother and son, and the extreme lengths the former is willing to go to protect the latter. That includes changing identities, shifting from one place to another and even committing murder.
Starring newcomer Farzana Palathingal as the mother whose real name we never get to know, the writing around the character has been praised for subverting the usual moral expectations we have from mothers on screen.
She loves her son and is fiercely protective of him, but that also pushes her into morally grey territory that even psychologically impacts her son.
That is precisely how the character breaks away from the conventions of how Indian cinema has traditionally portrayed mothers in a clichéd manner, as the epitome of morality and principles who would love their children to death.
We have seen suffering mothers, like Nirupa Roy and Raakhee in several films, Mother India-style mothers who would even kill their own children if they stood against morality, like Nargis in Mother India or Reema Lagoo in Vaastav, and the hardworking mothers who silently endure taunts to raise their families, like Jaya Bachchan in Kal Ho Naa Ho.
But there are also other onscreen mothers who have, err… a rather different way of showing their love for their children.
Sreeju Sudhakaran brings your attention to 10 such mother roles that stand apart in their portrayal of motherhood by defying certain conventions.
The Mom Beyond The Grave — Jaya Prada in Maa (1991)
Language: Hindi
Imagine being so protective of your child that even death doesn’t stop you.
That’s Mamta for you. Ah, the brilliance in that name.
Played by Jaya Prada, Mamta is killed by her husband’s greedy relatives for his property, only to return from the dead to protect her infant son from their evil clutches.
If Savitri could chase after Yama to save her husband, why can’t Mamta defy death to save her son?
The Careerist Mom — Aparna Sen in Unishe April (1994)
Language: Bengali
Films often glorify mothers who sacrifice their careers and individuality for their children. Rituparno Ghosh’s acclaimed second directorial takes a different route.
It tells the story of a mother who chooses her career over her family, someone unapologetic about pursuing her ambitions instead of devoting herself to raising her daughter, even after her husband passes away.
Sarojini also defies societal convention in the way she embraces widowhood, continuing to wear bright clothes and jewellery. But her emotional detachment from her daughter ends up leaving deep scars on the latter’s life.
The Greedy Mom — Sridevi in Judaai (1997)
Language: Hindi
If her husband had bought her that fridge and air conditioner instead of being so miserly, do you think Kajal would have sold him off to another woman?
While her husband, who doesn’t take long to agree to her outrageous demand, becomes the pawn in her greed, Kajal’s selfishness extends to her two children as well.
She happily dumps them on their stepmother (who, breaking cliches, is actually a good stepmom) so she can enjoy her own social life.
The Enabler Mom — Seema Biswas in Company (2002)
Language: Hindi
Usually, mothers in Hindi cinema encourage their sons to become better people and are heartbroken when they drift into crime.
Seema Biswas’ character in Ram Gopal Varma’s classic crime drama is a complete exception. She not only knows that her son Chandu is a gangster, she is genuinely thrilled when he climbs the ranks of the underworld.
To match her enthusiasm, Chandu even marries a woman who has absolutely no issues with her husband’s profession and is perfectly happy being a gangster’s wife. Of course, it doesn’t end very well for this extremely ‘supportive’ family.
The Finger-Chopping Mom — Supriya Pathak in Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela (2013)
Language: Hindi
Not all mothers are apostles of love and peace. Some value honour, tradition and family fealty more than their own children.
Usually, such character traits are assigned to fathers in Indian cinema. Supriya Pathak’s Dhankor Baa in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela breaks that mould.
As the proud matriarch of her clan, she doesn’t think twice before cutting off her daughter’s finger simply because the latter refuses to marry the man she has chosen for her. Ouch!
The Vengeful Mom — Asha Sharath in the Drishyam Movies (2013-2026)
Language: Malayalam
If you look at the story from the perspective of IG Geetha Prabhakar, or IG Meera Deshmukh in the Hindi remake, she is the grieving protagonist trying to bring her son’s killers to justice.
But even after realising that her son was a pervert who secretly filmed a young girl, Geetha’s moral compass completely goes off track as she becomes determined to torment an entire family in her relentless search for the truth. That too across three films.
Well, two really, because by the third film, her depression over her inability to find her son has transformed her once conscientious and morally upright husband (Siddique) into someone just like her, perhaps even worse. What’s more, her thirst for revenge isn’t done yet.
The Competitive Mom — Swara Bhasker in Nil Battey Sannata (2015)
Language: Hindi
Teenagers often find their mothers overprotective. But what if your mother enters the very space where you thought you could finally escape her?
Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari’s delightful film has Chanda, who works as a househelp, decide to motivate her academically disinterested daughter by enrolling in the same school and even the same class.
Naturally, the teenager is mortified, especially when her mother turns out to be a better student than she is. Plenty of quarrels, arguments and accusations later, the two eventually find peace with each other, and attempt their examinations together.
The ‘Unbiased’ Mom — Ramya Krishnan in the Baahubali Movies (2015-2017)
Language: Telugu
Usually, stepmothers and aunts are portrayed as the villains in masala films, favouring their own sons over their more deserving stepsons or nephews. Bhallaladeva (Rana Daggubati) could have wished for such a mother.
Unfortunately for him, his mother Sivagami Devi is an exceptionally fair and practical woman, who goes out of her way to prove she isn’t partial towards her own son over her foster son Amarendra (Prabhas).
Her rigid authority and love for her foster son are manipulated by both her husband and son, ultimately leading to her downfall. She eventually dies while trying to rescue her foster grandson.
The Resentful Mom — Revathi in Bhoothakaalam (2022)
Language: Malayalam
In Rahul Sadasivan’s psychological horror film, Revathi and Shane Nigam play an estranged mother and son living together, each battling depression.
Their resentment towards each other runs so deep that they are constantly quarrelling, and at one point, the mother even decides to poison both herself and her son to end their suffering. Fortunately, better sense prevails.
What they don’t realise is that their house is haunted by an evil entity that may well be feeding their psychological torment.
The Toxic Mom — Swastika Mukherjee in Qala (2022)
Language: Hindi
Pray that no child ever gets a mother like Urmila.
Clearly scarred by deep emotional trauma, Urmila tries to kill her daughter at birth simply because her twin brother was stillborn.
Obsessed with having a son, she dominates every aspect of her daughter’s life while training her in music, often resorting to cruel methods and never showing her even an ounce of affection.
Instead, she showers love on an orphaned young man, leaving her daughter consumed by resentment and sending her life spiralling into a series of tragic decisions.
Photographs curated by Satish Bodas/Rediff
