Bollywood has always loved Stereotypes using staying true to the Indian society excuse. It seems the movies favorite being the gender roles. It has been interpreted clearly in many movies over the years. It has been hammered in the minds of people that males are superior in every aspect onscreen as well as in real life.
Bollywood has tried to experiment with portraying motherhood in various lights. In early days Mothers were shown very subdued, moral, spiritual and always worried about their children as well as the family. On the other hand onscreen moms were allowed to be improper and sloppy in order to come close to the characteristic of a mother in real life.
There has been a slow and steady switch from the early days of Cinema to the present phase. Bollywood has also made a gradual shift as the Indian Society. In 1970’s mothers were simple and the only concern was the happiness of the family. In the 80’s there were teary moms who would wait for their sons to avenge their disrespect from anti-hero.
In further time lapse the mothers became buddies while the tenderness of the relationship remained the same. Nargis was a strong mother who didn’t even fear to kill his own Son for the wrong doings. Reema Lagoo, Farida Jalal and Supriya Pilgoankar fall in the category of friendly mother who support their children through all the up downs in their life.
The mothers portrayed on the silver screen who have managed to break the stereotypes to a certain extent are ShriDevi in MOM and English Vinglish, Vidya Balan in Paa, Swaroop Sampat in KI&KA, Ratna Pathak Shah in Jane Tu ya Jane Na, Jaya Bachchan in Kal ho na ho, Zohra Sehghal in Cheeni Kum, Sharmila Tagore in Break ke Baad and Meher Vij in Secret superstar.
I believe Bollywood opts for stereotypes help the audience understand the characters better and much rapidly and it ticks all the boxes of the right attitude in accordance to the community.
