[icernet] Book Review : `Mother India'

[Arul Selvan]

Source:
http://www.hinduonnet.com/lr/stories/2002110300180300.htm

Books around a film, such as The Battle over Citizen Kane by Thomas 
Lennon, is a new genre of writing gaining popularity even as the subject 
of Cultural Studies wins more votaries. These titles tell how the film 
was made, analyse its content and try to capture the ambience of a 
particular era in film history. Such works can be a useful source of 
information and open new regions for study. This book under review, on 
Mehboob Khan's "Mother India" (1957) is one such. The author had earlier 
written a similar book on the film "Awara". 

This well-researched book packs in a lot of details on the film and on 
the filmmaker, providing background information about making the film. 
It recreates the filmmaking dynamics of the 1950s. However, there is 
more focus on the maker of the film than on the movie itself. Of course, 
his life is a remarkable story by itself.