In Hindi cinema, there is something about mother and motherland where the audience is either unforgiving or very lavish in showering love, depending upon how the two are portrayed. If the makers dare to show the mother or motherland in poor light in a film, then they are definately bound to win the audience’s wrath. If both are shown in proper light and as being more important than everything else in this world, and chances are, the public will love your film.

Remember Beta? Indra Kumar showed a scheming stepmother of Anil Kapoor in the film, who subjects him to torture and ridicule. Yet, in the end, the loyal son is shown drinking poisoned milk served by her because he can’t believe that a mother can cause harm to her son. The film, as is well-known, went on to become a super-hit. Then there was Dharmesh Darshan’s Raja Hindustani in which Karisma Kapoor’s stepmom tries to get her divorced from her husband, Aamir Khan. She doesn’t succeed in her evil plans but she does all under her control to separate the couple.

Yet, Karisma Kapoor only pleads with her in the climax and reminds her that her action could have resulted in humankind losing faith in the mother forever. Again, Raja Hindustani went on to become a blockbuster.

In Rajkumar Santoshi’s Pukaar, Madhuri Dixit is shown trading the motherland’s security for winning back her love (Anil Kapoor), which the audience didn’t approve of. This was one major reason for the film bombing at the box-office.

In the recently-released Kurbaan, Kareena Kapoor is shown as pining for the love of her husband, Saif Ali Khan, although he is a terrorist. That’s something the public has rejected outright even though Saif is not shown to have harmed India. Which means, along with mother and motherland, the audience also places mankind on a very high pedestal. Anybody harming a mother, the motherland or mankind in general cannot be a nice person and so deserves nobody’s love or sympathy – that’s how the public thinks.

Rensil D’silva, the writer and director of Kurbaan, erred very badly in giving more importance to the love story of Kareena Kapoor than to the love for mankind. And he has had to pay the price by having a flop written alongside his name right at the start of his directorial career.

-Sampurn Media