''Badi Maa '' (Elder Mother), also called ''Bari-Ma'', is a

Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...

social war drama

film A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

. Released in

1945 1945 marked the end of World War II and the fall of Nazi Germany and the Empire of Japan. It is also the only year in which nuclear weapons have been used in combat. Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. Januar ...

, it was produced and directed by

Master Vinayak Vinayak Damodar Karnataki (19 January 1906 – 19 August 1947) commonly referred to as Master Vinayak was an Indian actor and film director of the 1930s and 1940s. Personal life Master Vinayak was born in Kolhapur, Maharashtra, India. He mar ...

. Made under the banner of Prafulla Pictures, Kolhapur, it had story written by V. S. Khendekar.

Zia Sarhadi Zia Sarhadi ( ur, ضیا سرحدی; born Fazl-e-Qadir Sethi 1914 in Peshawar, North West Frontier Province – 27 January 1997 in Karachi, Sindh) was a Pakistani screenwriter and director of films in the Indian Film Industry, whose career sp ...

wrote the screenplay and lyrics for six songs. The other lyricists were Anjum Pilibhiti and

Raja Badhe Raja Badhe (1912–1977) was a Marathi poet from Maharashtra, India. He first made his name in Nagpur as a poet. Later he moved to Mumbai. He worked for All India Radio for some time. Badhe produced a film on Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. Many ...

. The music director was K. Datta (Datta Koregaonkar). The film starred

Noor Jehan Noor Jehan ( Punjabi: ) (born () Allah Rakhi Wasai ; 23 September 1926 – 23 December 2000; sometimes spelled Noorjehan),Ashish Rajadhyaksha and Paul Willemen, ''Encyclopaedia of Indian Cinema,'' British Film Institute, Oxford University Pres ...

, Ishwarlal,

Yakub Yakub or Yaqub ( ar, يعقوب‎, Yaʿqūb or Ya'kūb , links=no, also transliterated in other ways) is a male given name. It is the Arabic version of Jacob (name), Jacob and James (name), James. The Arabic form ''Ya'qūb/Ya'kūb'' may be direct ...

Sitara Devi Sitara Devi (named Dhanlakshm; 8 November 1920 – 25 November 2014) was an Indian dancer of the classical Kathak style of dancing, a singer, and an actress. She was the recipient of several awards and accolades, and performed at several prest ...

, Meenaxi, Baby Alka, Damuanna Malvankar,

Leela Mishra Leela Mishra (1 January 1908 – 17 January 1988) was an Indian actress. She worked as a character actor in over 200 Hindi films for five decades, and is best remembered for playing stock characters such as aunts (''Chachi'' or ''Mausi''). She ...

and Girish. It had playback singer

Lata Mangeshkar Lata Mangeshkar () (born as Hema Mangeshkar; 28 September 1929 – 06 February 2022) was an Indian playback singer and occasional music composer. She is widely considered to have been the greatest and most influential singers in India. Her cont ...

in one of her rare early acting roles, performing alongside Noor Jehan. Besides Mangeshkar, the film also had singer

Asha Bhosle Asha Bhosle (; Mangeshkar; born 8 September 1933) is an Indian playback singer, entrepreneur and occasional actress and television personality who predominantly works in Indian Cinema. Known for her versatility, she has been described in the ...

in a minor role with the other two singers. Made at the end of WWII, the film factors the Japanese involvement, with Yakub and Sitara Devi acting as spies for Japan. The lead pair, Ishwarlal and Noor Jehan take them on, emerging victorious.

Plot

Set against the backdrop of WW II, it has the hero Dinesh, played by Ishwarlal, stuck in London during the

Blitz Blitz, German for "lightning", may refer to: Military uses *Blitzkrieg, blitz campaign, or blitz, a type of military campaign *The Blitz, the German aerial campaign against Britain in the Second World War *, an Imperial German Navy light cruiser b ...

. Dinesh's father Durgadas (D. S. Salvi) lives in a village (Dinapur) in India, with his daughter Usha (Meenaxi). Durgadas owes money to Ghanshyam (Girish), a money-lender with two children. Ghanshyam's son Rajinder (

), is a spy for the Japanese and is helped by a dancer called Mona (

). His daughter Hema (

) is a compassionate, patriotic girl unaware of her brother's plans and is in love with Dinesh. Ghanshyam offers to free Durgadas of his debt if he will agree to his daughter's marriage to Rajinder. When Durgadas refuses, Ghanshyam has his property confiscated. Dinesh returns to India and is shocked to find his father in penury and an attack on his village by the Japanese. He takes up arms to fight and is joined by Hema. His sister Usha dies under enemy firing, and a repentant Rajinder fights the enemy dying in the bargain. Hema and Dinesh survive the war having fought for Badi Maa (India), and get together.

Cast

as Hema *

Ishwarlal Ishwarlal was a Bollywood Hindi actor, director and producer, active from 1930 to 1966. He was born 9 October 1911 at Waghania, Bombay Presidency, British India as Hariprashad Joshi. He died on 22 January 1969 in Bombay (Mumbai), India aged 57 ...

as Dinesh *

as Rajinder * Sitara as Mona, Rajinder's partner in spying * Meenaxi as Usha, Dinesh's sister * D. S. Salvi as Durgadas, Dinesh's father * Girish as Ghanshyam, Hema and Rajinder's father *

in a minor role * Baby Alka

Review

Filmindia ''filmindia'' is an Indian monthly magazine covering Indian cinema and published in English language. Started by Baburao Patel in 1935, ''filmindia'' was the first English film periodical to be published from Bombay. The magazine was reportedl ...

, with its newly formed rating system of one to five stars with one being Rotten, Avoid and five being Excellent, Don't miss, gave the film a one star rating. In its September 1945 issue, it panned the film terming it a "propaganda social" and claiming the film to be "the year's most rotten show". Though the film came in for criticism for being a propaganda film, made "under the constant goading of the Information Department", it was a commercial success at the box-office, becoming the third highest grossing Indian film of that year.

Soundtrack

The music was composed by K. Datta with the songs written by three lyricists. Zia Sarhadi wrote the lyrics for six of the ten songs in the film, Anjum Pilibhiti three songs, and

one song. The singers were

, Baby Alka,

and Ishwarlal.

Song List

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, id=149773, title=Badi Maa
Badi Maa
on indiancine.ma 1945 films 1940s Hindi-language films Indian war drama films 1940s war drama films Indian black-and-white films 1945 drama films