Cine maa: How Sridevi, Kareena, Hema, Sara, Big B's mothers ruled their universe

“Baby ki mummy ko juice pilao,” was a common line used on film sets when heroines were accompanied by their mothers. And Bollywood’s stories too have often revolved around the mother’s strong presence in the hero/heroine’s role.

‘Doodh ka karz’ and the iconic ‘Mere Paas Maa Hai’ lines have often described the importance of the mother in Indian cinema. From the protective mothers who made sure their daughters were not exploited by the prying eyes of filmmakers to the mothers who used their influence to get work for their children, there are many such stories. Here are a few:

Mere Paas Maa Hai, a dialogue mouthed by the late Shashi Kapoor in Deewar, was attributed to Javed Akhtar. Late Rajesh Khanna however, told us another story: “I was the one who coined that line when I was playing the role of Ravi in Deewar. Then I had a fall out with Javed and Yashji and was thrown out of the film when I got into a fist fight with Javed.”

Rajesh Khanna’s style and approach to the mother can be gauged by how he won the actor’s contest organised by the film producers, way before he made his debut in Akhri Khat. It was the final. Purushottam Das Kochchar (Dheeraj Kumar) and Subhash Ghai were the other finalists with Khanna. “Rajesh Khanna who was then Jatin Khanna was given a scene where his mother was dead and he had to react. He said, ‘Pehle yeh batao, meri m aa kaun hai. Nirupa Roy ya Lalita Pawar.’ He had a presence of mind to ask whether the mother was the epitome of goodness or the quintessential step mother. That got him to win the contest,” said Dheeraj Kumar.

Amitabh Bachchan with his mother Teji Bachchan

It can be recalled that Amitabh Bachchan’s mother Teji Bachchan and former prime minister Indira Gandhi were close friends. “Sunil Dutt almost finalised an actor called Suresh Kumar for a role in Reshma Aur Shera. That was when Indira Gandhi wrote a letter to Dutt on her letter head, addressing him as ‘Dear brother’ and asking him to cast Amitabh who was the son of her friend Teji Bachchan in his next movie. Dutt did sign on Amitabh for the role. But Bachchan’s voice was so overpowering that the late Dutt cast him in the role of a mute,” says a film industry source.

Sridevi and her mother Rajeswari Yanger

Late Sridevi’s mother was also a very influential source on the sets. A snapshot of that was used in Ram Gopal Varma’s film Rangeela where Shefali Chhaya essayed a character inspired by Sridevi with Gulshan Grover playing Shekhar Kapoor. Sridevi’s mother always accompanied her to the set making sure that the daughter was away from the bad boys and men on the set.

Hema Malini’s mother Jaya Chakravarthy was the Iyengar mother who made sure that everything was fine with the daughter, right from her her share of clean and separately cooked vegetarian food. She did not want her daughter to be the second wife of Dharmendra and instead marry an Iyengar boy like cricketer Venkatraghavan or even Jeetendra who was only engaged to Shobha Sippy and not married till then. In fact, the mother had been protective of Hema even during school days where she would come and ensure that her pretty daughter won every dancing contest in school.

Babita Kapoor was more concerned about how her daughters Karisma and later, Kareena made their debuts. When Karisma Kapoor’s debut Barsaat opposite Bobby Deol and directed by Shekhar Kapoor was delayed, she yanked her out from the film and got her to debut opposite Harish in Dr Rama Naidu’s Prem Qaidi. And when it came to Kareena, she was not happy with her daughter making a debut in a bikini. So Kareena lost Kaho Naa Pyaar Hai to Amisha Patel and debuted in Refugee.

Vrinda Rai, though not an interfering mother, is always by her daughter’s side even till date.

Amrita Singh with daughter Sara Ali Khan

Among the young generation actors, it’s Amrita Singh who is very concerned about the way her daughter Sara Ali Khan’s career is progressing. She has made sure that her daughter is with the top banners in Bollywood. Thankfully, Sara’s debut film Kedarnath which fell into a hole is also back on track.

Jhanvi Kapoor will surely miss her mother Sridevi who ensured the daughter wore the best designer wear, chose a Karan Johar production to launch her career and was in the midst of choosing good scripts for Jhanvi’s future films. Unfortunately, she passed away. Not without my mother!

Sachin Tendulkar with his mother Rajni

The God of cricket, Sachin Tendulkar recently revealed what it was like to come out and bat in the final Test match of his life against West Indies as his mother watched him play for the first time. “The reason for having the match in Mumbai was because my mother hadn’t seen me play ever. Right from the day I started playing school cricket she hadn’t seen me play at all. So I told her, ‘I have been leaving home for last 30 years at least you should come once and see why I left home’,” shared the Master-blaster, adding “I went and I batted for almost 20-25 minutes till stumps. And right before the last over was bowled, I think Darren Sammy was on his run-up and suddenly on the mega screen I see my mother, there was a closeup on her. And that priceless moment was when she also realised that she was on screen and that was happening to her for the first time in her life.”