A COUNTDOWN OF THE BOLLYWOOD SUPER MUMS WHO MADE A MARK
by ASJAD NAZIR
BOLLYWOOD has gifted us many memorable mothers across the decades in a wide array of cinematic genres and showed off the full rainbow of emotions.
To celebrate Mother’s Day, which falls on March 14 this year, Eastern Eye went back through top movies to do a countdown of 20 most memorable on-screen Bollywood mums, with one film per amazing actress. The result is the most marvellous matriarchs in great films, to add to your lockdown watchlist, especially on Mother’s Day.
20. Anuradha - Tribhanga: Tedhi Medhi Crazy (2021): The first great Bollywood movie of 2021 sees Kajol play a short-tempered woman, who has a difficult relationship with her mother, which brings the relationship with her own grown-up daughter into sharp focus. The cross-generational drama is one of the best mother-daughter movies made in Hindi cinema.
19. Sunita Kapoor – Kapoor & Sons (2016): Actress Ratna Pathak has brought a sophistication and contemporary edge to the mother characters she has played. In this acclaimed film, she plays the mother to two grown sons, trying to keep her warring family from fracturing.
18. Nirmala Gupta – Khubsoorat (1980): Dina Pathak had a long, distinguished career as an actress and will always be best remembered for her motherly roles. She played a disciplinarian really well and did that in this classic comedy of a strict mother, who controls everything her children do.
17. Radha – Aurat (1940): Director Mehboob Khan made this classic film of a single mother (Sardar Akhtar) battling against the odds to bring up her children. The legendary filmmaker would then remake this massively influential film in the following decade as India’s first Oscar nominated film Mother India (1957).
16. Priya Bakshi - Kya Kehna (2000): Preity Zinta perfectly plays the lead role of an unapologetic single young student who gets pregnant and decides to have the baby. She then juggles pregnancy with the social stigma of being a single unmarried mother and trying to rebuild her life.
15. Soudamini - Amar Jyoti (1936): She may be best known for playing the mother in Bollywood’s greatest film Mughal-e-Azam (1960), but it was her role in this early talkie that was path-breaking. The action-adventure saw her play a mother denied custody of her son, who vows vengeance and becomes a pirate.
14. Chanda Sahay - Nil Battey Sannata (2015): A movie that doesn’t get the credit it deserves is one of the best mother-daughter films ever made in Bollywood. Swara Bhaskar plays a single mother holding down multiple jobs to get her daughter the best education and when she starts slacking, joins the school as a student, with breathtakingly beautiful results.
13. Vandana Verma - Aradhana (1969): Although this legendary film is best remembered for the musical element and romance, at the heart of the story is the difficult journey of a single mother. Sharmila Tagore plays a mother who makes multiple sacrifices for her son, including going to jail, and perfectly shows the selfless nature of devoted mums.
12. Najma Malik - Secret Superstar (2017): The supportive mother who makes sacrifices for her children has been a recurring theme in Bollywood and one of the finest examples was the award-winning portrayal by Meher Vij in this smash hit musical drama. She plays a woman in an abusive relationship determined to give her children a better life, which includes supporting her daughter’s impossible musical dream.
11. Dr. Vidya - Paa (2009): When Vidya Balan does play a mother, she brings something unique to the role, which was perfectly demonstrated with her loveable character in Tumharu Sulu. Her most powerful turn as a mother was her multi-award winning performance in Paa, where she plays the devoted mother of a 12-year-old boy with a rare genetic disorder Progeria.
10. Durga Singh - Karan Arjun (1995): Legendary leading lady Rakhee made the smooth transition to playing a mother and specialised in bringing a loud, hysterical energy to the role. Her most memorable turn was in this action-drama, where she is convinced her murdered sons will return to take revenge and demands it loudly. They duly oblige by being reincarnated.
9. Mrs Acharya – Dostana (2008): Kirron Kher has delivered many memorable mum turns and was never better than in this comedy. She portrays a stressed-out mother, convinced that her son is in a gay relationship and that hilarious angst is perfectly portrayed in the song Maa Da Laadla.
8. Madhukala Choudhury - Hum Aapke Hain Koun (1994): Reema Lagoo regularly played the nurturing mother everyone wanted, including in this record-breaking drama. She plays the loveable mum of two daughters, who just has a warm energy about her and made everyone want to be in a family with her as the head.
7. Chandrashekhar's mother – Junglee (1961): No one played the strict matriarch better than Lalita Pawar in the golden age of Bollywood and what made it all the more remarkable was that she played characters much older than her. The blockbuster musical saw her play a strict mother, who doesn’t believe in love or laughter, and sees her go on a collision course with her son.
6. Mrs Kaushik – Badhaai Ho (2018): Perhaps the most unique mother character popped up in this original comedy-drama. Neena Gupta brilliantly plays a middle-aged mother with grown children, who unexpectedly becomes pregnant and this leads to a whole series of dramas. This ranges from a disapproving community to a grown-up son having a meltdown over it.
5. Nandini Raichand – Kabhi Kushi Kabhie Gham (2001): It is a wonder that acclaimed actress Jaya Bachchan hasn’t played more mother roles than she has. In the record-breaking film, she plays a mother who has a seemingly psychic ability and can feel the presence of her beloved son. When she reunites with him after a long hiatus, there wasn’t a dry eye in the house.
4. Savitha Khanna - Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998): No one has played the fun mother better than Farida Jalal and she did that superbly in films, including record-breaker Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge. But in Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, she went a step further by playing the role of a loveable mother, who helps her granddaughter reunite her son with a long-lost love.
3. Shashi Godbole - English Vinglish (2012): The fabulous feel-good film revolves around one of the all-time great mother portrayals in Bollywood history. Sridevi plays a taken-for-granted and often ridiculed mother, who decided to do something herself by learning to speak English. That simple act is not only transformative, but also puts across an important message.
2. Sumitra Devi – Deewar (1975): Whether it was Amar Akbar Anthony, Suhaag or countless other classics, no one in Bollywood history played the suffering mother better than Nirupa Roy. Her most memorable turn of a mother battling against the odds came in all-time classic Deewaar, where she brings up her two sons alone and has to deal with them being on opposite sides of the law.
1. Radha - Mother India (1957): Nargis carried the first Oscar nominated Indian film on her shoulders with her perfect portrayal of the most powerful mother character in Bollywood history. She shows the unbreakable spirit of a mother, who battles against all the odds, including a harsh environment and unforgiving society, to bring up her children alone. Then in old age, she is confronted with an impossible choice and finds the inner power to do the unimaginable.
Eli Lilly had announced a steep price rise of up to 170% for Mounjaro.
A new discount deal with UK suppliers will limit the increase for patients.
Pharmacies will still apply a mark-up, but consumer costs are expected to rise less than initially feared.
NHS pricing remains unaffected due to separate arrangements.
Eli Lilly has agreed a discounted supply deal for its weight-loss drug Mounjaro, easing fears of a sharp rise in costs for UK patients. The new arrangement means that, from September, pharmacies and private services will face smaller wholesale increases than first expected, limiting the impact on consumers.
Why the price rise was announced
Earlier this month, Eli Lilly said it would raise Mounjaro’s list price by as much as 170%, which could have pushed the highest monthly dose from £122 to £330. The company argued that UK pricing needed to align more closely with higher costs in Europe and the United States.
Discount deal for UK suppliers
The revised agreement will see the top-dose price set at £247.50 for suppliers. While pharmacies and private providers will still add their own margins, the increase for patients is now likely to remain under 50% for higher doses, and even lower for smaller doses.
Eli Lilly confirmed:
“We are working with private providers on commercial arrangements to maintain affordability and expect these to be passed onto patients when the change is effective on 1 September.”
Impact on consumers
Around 1.5 million people in the UK are currently on weight-loss drugs, with more than half using Mounjaro. Most of these patients—around 90%—pay privately through online services or high street pharmacies.
Prices vary between providers, depending on the level of lifestyle and dietary support offered alongside the injections.
Olivier Picard of the National Pharmacy Association said:
“This rebate will mitigate some of the impact of the increase, but patients should still anticipate seeing a rise in prices from 1 September.”
NHS pricing unchanged
The deal does not affect the NHS, which has secured its own heavily-discounted price for patients prescribed the weekly injection.
Mounjaro works by helping patients feel fuller for longer, reducing food intake and supporting weight loss of up to 20% of body weight.
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The Department of Health said the rollout would reduce missed days at nursery and school, cut time parents take off work, and save the NHS about £15 million a year. (Representational image: iStock)
CHILDREN in England will be offered a free chickenpox vaccine for the first time from January 2026, the government has announced.
GP practices will give eligible children a combined vaccine for measles, mumps, rubella and varicella (MMRV) as part of the routine childhood vaccination schedule. Around half a million children each year are expected to be protected.
The Department of Health said the rollout would reduce missed days at nursery and school, cut time parents take off work, and save the NHS about £15 million a year. Research estimates chickenpox in childhood leads to £24 million in lost income and productivity annually.
Minister of State for Care, Stephen Kinnock, said: “We’re giving parents the power to protect their children from chickenpox and its serious complications, while keeping them in nursery or the classroom where they belong and preventing parents from scrambling for childcare or having to miss work. This vaccine puts children’s health first and gives working families the support they deserve. As part of our Plan for Change, we want to give every child the best possible start in life, and this rollout will help to do exactly that.”
Dr Gayatri Amirthalingam, Deputy Director of Immunisation at the UK Health Security Agency, said: “Most parents probably consider chickenpox to be a common and mild illness, but for some babies, young children and even adults, chickenpox can be very serious, leading to hospital admission and tragically, while rare, it can be fatal. It is excellent news that from next January we will be introducing a vaccine to protect against chickenpox into the NHS routine childhood vaccination programme – helping prevent what is for most a nasty illness and for those who develop severe symptoms, it could be a life saver.”
Amanda Doyle, National Director for Primary Care and Community Services at NHS England, said: “This is a hugely positive moment for families as the NHS gets ready to roll out a vaccine to protect children against chickenpox for the first time, adding to the arsenal of other routine jabs that safeguard against serious illness.”
The eligibility criteria will be set out in clinical guidance, and parents will be contacted by their GP surgery if their child is eligible.
WHEN broadcaster and journalist Naga Munchetty began speaking openly about her experiences with adenomyosis and debilitating menstrual pain, the response was overwhelming.
Emails and messages poured in from women who had endured years of dismissal, silence and shame when it came to their health. That outpouring became the driving force behind her new book, It’s Probably Nothing, which calls for women to be heard and to advocate for themselves in a medical system that has too often ignored them.
“For so long, so many women haven’t been listened to by the world of medicine,” Munchetty said. “I knew this from my own experience of not being given adequate pain relief, or waiting years for a diagnosis. My motivation was to help women and people who love women to advocate better for women’s health.”
The book blends Munchetty’s personal journey with the voices of other women who have faced similar struggles, alongside expert insights from medical professionals. Its purpose, she said, is clear: to empower people to fight for their health.
“We need to be unafraid of saying how we have been weakened by our symptoms,” the BBC presenter said.
“Too often, we try to keep afloat, keep our head above water, but we don’t want to seem weak. That needs to change.”
Munchetty’s candour is striking. She describes the shame of being told her excruciating periods were “just normal,” leaving her to feel weak and whiny for struggling.
“You might as well have told me people have heart attacks while I’m having a heart attack,” she said. “Debilitating pain is serious — it may not be lifelimiting, but it is life-impacting.”
Her determination to challenge that culture led to her giving evidence in parliament, contributing to what became a Women and Equalities Committee report, published in December 2024.
The report made headlines for its stark conclusion: medical misogyny exists.
For Munchetty, seeing that phrase in black and white was transformative. “It was almost self-affirming,” she said. “We now know it’s there, so we can challenge it. Women can say: I know my body, I know there’s not enough research, and I am entitled to push for answers.”
The parliamentary report went further than acknowledgement. It called for ring-fenced funding for women’s health hubs, better training for GPs, and greater investment in research into reproductive conditions like adenomyosis and endometriosis.
It highlighted how symptoms are routinely dismissed as “normal,” delaying diagnosis and disrupting women’s careers, education and daily lives. Munchetty wrote in her book — referencing the report — that medical misogyny is not about blaming individual doctors, but about challenging a system built on insufficient research into women’s bodies.
“It gives women the language and the confidence to not just be heard, but to insist on being taken seriously,” she wrote.
Her book also tackles the additional barriers faced by women from minority communities, who may be discouraged by stigma or embarrassment from speaking about menstruation or menopause. To them, Munchetty has a clear message: “You are so much more valuable than you realise. If you don’t prioritise your health, you are lessening your ability to hold up everyone around you.”
Those featured in the book are friends, colleagues, charities and everyday women who contributed their stories, many for the first time. “I was surprised at how many friends are in that book with such powerful experiences,” Munchetty said.
“It told me all the more that we’re not speaking about it, and that it is sadly so very common.”
At a launch event for the book, contributors, family and experts filled the room with what Munchetty describes as an “electric and inspiring atmosphere.”
She said, “It was full of joy, of women who felt safe to speak up and be heard. This is not a whiny book — it’s a positive book. People felt they were part of making things better, part of this women’s health revolution.”
For Munchetty, writing the book was exhausting, but transformative, she said.
“I never thought I’d be an author. I’m a journalist. But this is journalism — facilitating people’s stories to be told powerfully and truthfully. People trusted me, and I’m proud of that.”
And Munchetty’s aim is for the book to be a tool for change: arming women with the language, confidence and strategies to advocate for their health.
“It’s not easy to admit you need help, and it’s not instinctive for women to prioritise themselves,” she said. “But this book will help you do that. It’s the silent friend who has your back and gives you strength.”
It’s Probably Nothing - Critical Conversations on the Women’s Health Crisis is now available in all good bookshops
The Shree Kunj Bihari Vrindavan (UK) Temple has officially launched its project to establish a grand home for Shree Banke Bihari in London.
The inaugural event, held in Harrow from 4 pm, featured devotional chants, the Deep Pragtya ceremony, and a presentation outlining the temple’s vision. Speaking at the gathering, Shalini Bhargava described the planned temple as “a spiritual home promoting bhakti, unity and seva for generations to come.”
Several dignitaries were honoured at the ceremony, including Cllr Anjana Patel, Mayor of Harrow; Anuradha Pandey, Hindi and Cultural Attaché at the High Commission of India; Kamakshi Jani of the Royal Navy; Councillors Janet Mote, Nitin Parikh and Mina Parmar; Krishnaben Pujara, Chairperson of ALL UK; and Truptiben Patel, President of the Hindu Forum of Britain.
Organisers said the launch marks the beginning of a new spiritual and cultural hub for London’s Hindu community, offering a centre for devotion, learning and community service.
Martin Dickie has announced his departure from BrewDog and the alcohol industry.
He co-founded the Ellon-based brewer with James Watt in 2007.
Dickie cited family time and personal reasons for his exit.
His departure follows recent bar closures as part of a company restructuring.
BrewDog confirmed no further leadership changes will follow.
BrewDog co-founder Martin Dickie has announced he is leaving the Scottish brewer and the wider alcohol industry for “personal reasons.” Dickie, who founded the Ellon-based business with James Watt in 2007, said he wanted to spend more time with his family after more than two decades in brewing and distilling.
Early beginnings
Dickie and Watt launched BrewDog at the age of 24, starting from a garage in Fraserburgh and selling hand-filled bottles from a van at local markets. The company grew rapidly to become one of the UK’s best-known craft brewers.
Leadership changes
James Watt stepped down as chief executive last year after 17 years in the role, moving into a non-executive position as “captain and co-founder.” Dickie’s exit marks another major shift in the company’s founding leadership.
Dickie’s statement
“Leaving BrewDog isn’t easy, but I’m ready to spend less time travelling and spend some more time at home with my young family,” Dickie said. He added: “It has been an honour to have worked with incredible, like-minded colleagues who live in a world of flavour and experimentation. In James Taylor and Lauren Carrol, BrewDog is in very strong hands and I will always remain a massive fan.”
Company response
BrewDog chief executive James Taylor praised Dickie’s contribution, highlighting his focus on product quality, workplace safety, sustainable supplier relationships, and new product development. “Martin’s contributions to BrewDog have been immeasurable,” Taylor said. “His creativity, passion, and relentless drive have shaped our company over the years and inspired countless others in the industry.”
Recent challenges
The announcement comes a month after BrewDog closed ten of its bars, including its flagship Aberdeen Gallowgate site and a Dundee outlet, citing commercial unviability. The company stressed that Dickie’s departure will not result in further leadership changes.