PIX: The Different Shades of Bollywood Moms

Bollywood moms have had their place of pride in films since as long as we can remember.

And they've come in various shades. From the tyrant to the social butterfly to the evil, we've had it all in Hindi cinema.

Nargis portrayed the idea of the ideal Indian mother in Mehboob Khan's 1957 classic Mother India.

Introduced as a blushing bride who starts her marital journey with the film, Radha bears two sons and triumphs over several tragedies spanning decades, only to kill one of her sons to protect a girl's dignity.

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Nirupa Roy may have played mother to various leading men but her moment of reckoning came in 1975 when she was cast as the mother of Shashi Kapoor and Amitabh Bachchan in Deewar.

With a single 'Mere paas maa hai', Shashi Kapoor immortalised the greatest Indian figure of all time, for all posterity.

In Basu Chatterjee's delightful 1979 romantic comedy Baton Baton Mein, Pearl Padamsee plays Rosie Perreira, a perenially anxious mother of two.

Her neurosis is caused by a son, who's obsessed with the violin and her wish to marry off her daughter to a well-to-do and handsome Christian boy.

In one of the most chuckle-worthy scenes in the film, Rosie is miffed when she learns that her daughter's suitor (Amol Palekar) earns less than her but comes around when it's pointed out that he's on probation and will draw a bigger salary eventually.

In Hrishikesh Mukherjee's 1979 comedy Gol Maal, actress Dina Pathak stands out in a brief role.

She plays a socialite who's summoned by Ram Prasad (Amol Palekar) to pretend to be his mother when his boss pays thema visit.

Much hilarity ensues when the boss (Utpal Dutt) later spots the 'devout' mother at a party, wearing a flashy sari and make up.

Indu (Shabana Azmi) struggles to come to terms with the fact that her husband had an extra marital affair that resulted in a son.

While the boy (Jugal Hansraj) craves for motherly affection and tries to reach out to her, Indu is curt with him. Later, she accepts him into her family.

Yesteryear vamp Bindu took to playing mother-in-law with quite a flair in the later part of her acting career.

In Biwi Ho Toh Aisi, she plays a tyrant, rich businesswoman who conducts her familial duties with business-like precision and ruthlessness and looks down upon people who aren't from a similar financial staus as hers.

Aruna Irani plays an evil stepmother in Indra Kumar's Beta.

She is a scheming woman who manipulates Anil Kapoor his entire life so that her biological son can inherit the family fortune.

In a one-of-its-kind role, in the 1992 film Maa, Jaya Prada plays a new mother who is murdered by her husband's money-hungry relatives.

The loving mother comes back from the dead to take care of her baby but realises, to her horror, that she can't communicate with anyone since she's dead.

Raakhi plays Durga Singh, a distraught mother, who can't come to terms with the fact that her sons -- Karan and Arjun -- have been murdered by her evil brother-in-law and spends her days praying to the goddess Kali to bring them back.

Even when she's being scoffed at and kicked around, Durga persists with her conviction, which eventually pays off.

Sridevi plays a highly aspirational Kaajal in 1997's Judaai.

When she trades off her husband for a fortune, there's little else she can care about besides her new-found fame, new clothes and a lifestyle she'd always dreamed of.

In one of her brief yet standout performances, Amrita Singh takes on a police commissioner in Shootout At Lokhandwala when he comes enquiring about her absconding gangster son.

She's proud of him and not afraid to tell off even bureaucrats off, even though she's on her own.

The delightful Zohra Segal plays mum to a 60-something single chef (Amitabh Bachchan) in Cheeni Kum.

While like all mothers, she whines about her son not getting married, she also has a curious penchant for wrestling and quite enjoys marvelling at toned bodies of the competitors in the game.

Kirron Kher pioneered the art of playing a loud Punbai mother in Dostana.

But her true moment of glory came with Singh Is Kingg.

As a mother who hasn't told her daughter that they aren't as well-off as they were before, Kirron Kher, with the help of a bunch of sardars, puts on a show to keep up the act.

Vidya Balan plays mother to Auro, a kid suffering from progeria.

A practising gynecologist, Vidya is a realist who tries to make life as easy as possible for her witty 12-year-old son and discreetly walks out of her son's father's life when she suspects Auro might hinder his political ambitions.

Sid is a spoilt, reckless rich kid, who finds his eager-to-please mother annoying.

Her world revolves around her son and since she senses that she embarrasses him as she's not adequately educated, tries to converse in English without much success.

Unfortunately for Naina Devi (Dimple Kapadia), she lives with two hot-blooded Pandeys in a house but can't get them to sort their differences out.

Her older son Chulbul Pandey detests his stepfather Prajapati Pandey and his hatred is duly reciprocated.

Torn between this never-ending tussle, Naina Devi is bumped off by goons before her wish is realised.

Ratna Pathak Shah plays a domineering socialite mother to neurotic Rahul Kapoor (Imran Khan) in Ek Main Hoon Aur Ekk Tu.

There's a visible emotional disconnect between the duo. A nervous-looking Rahul stiffens at the sight of his cold, champagne-sipping, air-kissing mother.

Before Vicky Arora stumbles upon a vocation that invloves donating sperms, he lives off the earning of his mother, a widow who's been looking after her thankless son, and her whining mother-in-law.

She's so fed up of having to look after the duo and having no time whatsoever for herself, she doesn't want her son's name mentioned when she's unwinding after a hard day's work with a tall glass of whiskey.