<P> Baburao Patel of the film magazine Filmindia (December 1957) described Mother India after its release as "the greatest picture produced in India" and wrote that no other actress would have been able to perform the role as well as Nargis . A review in Monthly Film Bulletin in 1958 remarked that audiences in UK should be grateful that the international version was shortened by 40 minutes, and termed it a "rag - bag pantomime". After its US release in 1959, Irene Thirer reviewed the film in the New York Post in which she praised its "striking dramatic appeal", but feared it might not be accepted by American audiences due to cultural differences . In a 1976 article in the journal Studies: An Irish Quarterly Review, author Michael Gallagher found the film "an amazing mixture of political allegory and cheap musical, a cross between the impressiveness of Eisenstein and the banality of Show Boat". The New Internationalist in 1999 found Nargis's acting "exemplary", and noted "a clever interplay--artistically and politically--between the traditional and the radical" evident in Mother India . </P> <P> In a 2002 article in The Village Voice, film critic J. Hoberman described the film as "an outrageous masala of apparently discordant elements ." He characterised it as a mixture of "indigenous versions of Soviet - style tractor - opera, Italian neo-realism, Hollywood kiddie - cuteness, a dozen Technicolor musical numbers, and, most significantly, a metaphoric overlay of pop Hinduism ." Hoberman criticised the acting as "broad", and also wrote about the "vaguely left - wing" nationalist overtone of the film . Author Phill Hall, writing for Film Threat in 2002, described the film as exceptionally sluggish and one - dimensional, and lampooned it saying "it takes the strongest of constitutions to endure this film without entertaining notions of matricide ." Jonathan Romney in his 2002 report in The Independent observed the earth - mother Radha as "India's answer to Anna Magnani" and the film as "an all - out exercise in ideological myth - making ." Women's Feature Service, in a 2007 article, noted Mother India as "one of the most outstanding films of the post-Independence era ." Ziya Us Salam of The Hindu wrote in her 2010 report: "Mehboob was able to blend the individual with the universal, thereby enhancing the film's appeal without compromising on its sensitivity ." </P> <P> Mother India, its star Nargis, and the director Khan received many awards and nominations . Nargis won the Filmfare Best Actress Award in 1958 and became the first Indian to receive the Best Actress award at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in present - day Czech Republic . Mother India won the Filmfare Award for Best Film and scooped several other Filmfare awards including Best Director for Khan, Best Cinematographer for Faredoon Irani, and Best Sound for R. Kaushik . In 1958, the film became India's first submission for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film and was chosen as one of the five nominations for the category . The international version, 120 minutes long, was sent for the Oscars . Additionally, this version had English subtitles, and dropped Mehboob Productions' logo, which featured the Communist hammer and sickle, to appease the Academy . The 120 - minute version was later distributed in the US and UK by Columbia Pictures . The film came close to winning the Academy Award, but lost to Federico Fellini's Nights of Cabiria by a single vote . Khan was utterly disappointed at not winning the award . "He had seen the other films in the fray and believed Mother India was far superior to them" recalled Sunil Dutt years later . It also won two awards at the 5th National Film Awards in 1957: an All India Certificate of Merit for Best Feature Film and Certificate of Merit for Best Feature Film in Hindi . </P> <Table> <Tr> <Th_colspan="2"> Mother India </Th> </Tr> <Tr> <Th_colspan="2"> Soundtrack album by Naushad </Th> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Released </Th> <Td> 1957 </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Recorded </Th> <Td> Mehboob Studios </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Genre </Th> <Td> Film soundtrack </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Label </Th> <Td> EMI Records </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th_colspan="2"> Naushad chronology </Th> </Tr> <Tr> <Td_colspan="2"> <Table> <Tr> <Td> Uran Khatola (1955) Uran Khatola 1955 </Td> <Td> Mother India (1957) </Td> <Td> Sohni Mahiwal (1958) Sohni Mahiwal 1958 </Td> </Tr> </Table> </Td> </Tr> </Table>

Nominated in the best foreign film category at the oscars mother india lost to