My mother India

My mother India begins by telling a love story. A young middle-class Australian woman falls in love with a young intellectual Indian whilst at university during the 1950s. They eventually marry and the Australian woman leaves her country to begin a new life in India as a wife and mother. This is an extraordinary documentary about living in a different culture and the way a nation’s political and historical turmoil impacts upon the lives of ordinary individuals. It weaves together first-person interviews, historic footage and present-day shots of India in a very beautiful and poetic way. The poignant and heartfelt quality of this documentary derives from the fact that the filmmaker, Safina Uberoi, is the daughter of this mixed racial couple, and the film is her personal quest for identity. Throughout she becomes reacquainted with her parents and her Indian grandparents and comes to fully understand and appreciate the kinds of sacrifices they made and suffering they endured. Ultimately, however, “My mother India” is a daughter paying homage to her mother and the tough decision she made a generation ago that now allows her daughter to move freely between two radically different countries and cultures. Winner of several awards including Best Australian Documentary, Real Life on Film Documentary Festival; Jury Prize for Best Australian Documentary, Australian Film Critics Circle; Special Jury Award, Hawaii International Film Festival; Best Long-Form Documentary, Australian Teachers of Media Awards.