Mother India is a 1957 Hindi epic melodrama film, directed by Mehboob Khan and starring Nargis, Sunil Dutt, Rajendra Kumar, and Raaj Kumar. A remake of Khan's 1940 film Aurat, it is the story of a poverty-stricken village woman named Radha (Nargis) who struggles to raise her sons amidst many troubles. Despite her hardship, she sets a goddess-like moral example of an ideal Hindu Indian woman. In the end, she kills her criminal son for the greater good. Mother India metaphorically represents India as a nation in the aftermath of independence, and alludes to a strong sense of nationalism and nation-building. While some authors treat Radha as the symbol of women empowerment, others see her cast in female stereotypes. The film was the most expensive Hindi cinema production and earned the highest revenue for any Hindi film at that time. Mother India became a definitive cultural classic and is regarded one of the best Indian films. It was India's first submission for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1958, where it made the shortlist. The film won the Filmfare Best Film Award for 1957, and Nargis and Khan won the Best Actress and Best Director awards respectively.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother_India

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1491:

Nkuwu Nzinga of the Kingdom of Kongo was baptised as João I by Portuguese missionaries. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jo%C3%A3o_I_of_Kongo

1791:

The Polish Constitution of May 3, the oldest codified national constitution in Europe, was adopted by the Sejm. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitution_of_May_3,_1791

1913:

Raja Harishchandra (scene pictured), the first full-length Indian feature film, was released. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raja_Harishchandra

1915:

Canadian physician and Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae wrote "In Flanders Fields", later considered one of the most notable poems written during the First World War. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_Flanders_Fields

1951:

The Royal Festival Hall, the first post-war building to become listed Grade I, opened as the venue for the Festival of Britain. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Festival_Hall

1963:

Police in Birmingham, Alabama, used high-pressure water hoses and dogs on civil rights protesters, bringing intense scrutiny on racial segregation in the Southern US. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birmingham_campaign

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

treeness: 1. The essence of what it means to be a tree; the qualities that make a tree what it is. 2. (genetics) The suitability of an evolutionary tree for representing the structure of a population; the degree to which a population structure can be accurately described as a tree of descent, with different branches evolving independently after they split. 3. (graph theory) The condition of being a tree; acyclicity and connectedness. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/treeness

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

It's up to you whether or not you want to do work with no contract. I think artists do need to do work with no contract, because what we're motivated by is not money. We're motivated by a need to express ourselves and to get our ideas out. That's the motivation. It turns out that when people like it they frequently will support you if you give them a means, but this is not a contract.   --Nina Paley https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Nina_Paley