Aurat (1940 film)


Aurat is a 1940 Indian film, directed by Mehboob Khan, starring Sardar Akhtar, Surendra, Yakub, Kanhaiyalal and Arun Kumar Ahuja. The film's music is by Anil Biswas and dialogue is by Wajahat Mirza. Mehboob Khan later remade this film as Mother India, which is considered as one of the biggest hits of all time in Indian Cinema. The movie was reported to have the shades of Pearl S. Buck's The Good Earth.

Plot

Radha is an indomitable woman, toiling away to feed her three sons and to pay off Sukhilala, the village's rapacious moneylender. When she learns that she is pregnant again, her husband, Shamu, runs far away, leaving her to fend for herself against poverty and the lecherous advances of Sukhilala. Later, the two eldest children die, leaving her with only two sons: the strait-laced Ramu and the wild Birju. The latter of the two becomes a bandit, who kills Sukhilala and kidnaps his childhood sweetheart. As a result, Radha and Ramu are cast out of the village. Eventually, Radha kills Birju for dishonoring her.

Cast