Bollywood and toxic families get along just as well like pineapple and pizza, or even worse, ice-cream and pickle. They are so bad, but they exist for the world to “savour” them. Think about the Raichands of K3G’s fam-jam, and I won’t say anything further. Keh diya na, bas, keh diya.
But in this world of Bollywood where the mothers are called ‘mother India’, with the sole aim of reuniting their children, because mere karan arjun aayenge. But have you ever noticed that many of these moms in Bollywood, under the garb of being the stereotypical, bubbly and (more than often) Punjabi moms, are actually toxic? If we are talking about food combos, these mom-kid duos would be mentos and cola.
Here are 10 such Bollywood moms who are are toxic as that aasteen ka saanp!
1. Neelam Mehra – Dil Dhadakne Do
Neelam Mehra, portrayed by Shefali Shah was a non-confrontational Bollywood mother. Being in a crumbling marriage herself, she forced her daughter Aisha to do the same and remain in the emotionally abusive and draining marriage. She had to deal with her husband’s adultery, regarding which she remained quiet, and believed that her daughter should also do so for her own good.
2. Rama – Vivah
Rama (Seema Biswas) was the only mother figure in the Poonam’s life (Amrita Rao), and she failed at being one, miserably. She is jealous of her being prettier than her own daughter (Bollywood gora-rang syndrome downloading in 3…2…1…), and hence treats her poorly. On the other hand, she controls her own daughter Rajni (Amrita Prakash) and is constantly bickering over her not putting ubtan for a lighter skin colour or generally not being a good bahu-material.
3. Maya Awasthi – Tare Zameen Par
Even though the iconic song Maa (which we use every Mother’s Day) was picturized on Maya, she failed terribly at being an ideal, understanding mother. While Ishan’s (Darsheel Safary) father turned violent towards him and sent him to a boarding school, Maya just stood by her husband and did not try to understand that he might be struggling with dyslexia, which leads to the little boy’s mental breakdown.
4. Susheela – Main Prem Ki Deewani Hoon
Susheela (Himani Shivpuri) was that kind of a mother who wanted her daughter (Kareena Kapoor Khan) to enter a marital alliance with a rich family. She pushed her to fall in love with Prem (Hrithik Roshan) by being the sundar-susheel-sanskaari girl even when she wasn’t interested in him. But when she did fall in love with the ‘fake’ Prem, Susheela tells her to forget him and go marry the real, rich Prem (Abhishek Bachchan) because “problem kya hai” when she hadn’t had a sexual relationship with Hrithik’s Prem.
5. Sunita Kapoor – Kapoor and Sons
Ratna Pathak Shah in the role of Sunita portrayed the so-called modern Indian mom who loves her children dearly till the time they walk the stereotypical path prescribed by the society: good career, heteronormative relationship and an adaarsh son. But when her elder son Rahul (Fawad Khan) comes out to her as gay, she immediately turns against him and disowns him because of his sexuality.
6. Subhadra Rani – Dum Laga Ke Haisha
Just another next-door traditional Indian mom, Subhadra (Seema Pahwa) is the mother who would tell her daughter to try harder and compromise in her marriage, asking her to return to her husband even if things are not working out. Such moms are conditioned to believe that they should advise their daughters to be good bahus at all times.
7. Dhankor – Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela
As scary is the name, so is this Bolly mom Dhankor (Supriya Pathak). She is not just toxic, but a cruel, tyrant egotist who doesn’t care about anything else than stupid clan-wars, izzat and stuff. The woman literally chopped off her daughter Leela’s (Deepika Padukone) finger because she had fallen in love with a guy from the enemy clan. Mutilating not just her emotions, but her body as well.
8. Rani Acharya – Dostana
“Maa ka laadla bigad gaya” is the worst portrayal of homosexuality in a Bollywood movie. The mother in the movie, Rani Acharya (Kirron Kher), is hysterical when she suspects her son (Abhishek Bachchan) of being gay. Another example of a toxic mom who cannot accept her son’s sexual orientation and respect his decisions.
9. Kavita Malhotra – 2 States
Kavita (Amrita Singh) is a mom who is a bigot, full of internalized misogyny and a misplaced sense of pride. She uses subtle emotional blackmail to control his son’s life decisions, especially pertaining to his love life, because the girl in question was a ‘Madrasi‘. She thinks of her son as an innocent raja beta who is hypnotized and entrapped by a manipulative Tamil girl. Kavita Malhotra throws tantrums throughout the film to get her way.
10. Lajwanti – Dilwale Dulhania Le Jaayenge
Although we see a candid relationship between Lajwanti (Farida Jalal) and her daughter Simran (Kajol) initially in the film, we find her not standing up for her daughter later. During the scene when Lajwanti has a heart-to-heart talk with Simran while they were in India, she asks her daughter to sacrifice her happiness for the “sukh-chain” of others, that is men. We were happy to finally see the mom was telling her daughter to never think herself as less just because she’s a woman. But bam! We instead got the beautiful dialogue, “sapne dekho, zaroor dekho, par unke poore hone ki shart mat rakho.” Okay.
Did we miss out on any more such toxic mothers?