The Indianised version of the novel Mother by famous Russian writer Maxim Gorky is the film Thaayi. A century old novel adopted with suitable changes to the changing situation in India.

A mother who longs for her son finally takes over his role, dedicated to fight oppression of poor people and bring about a change. But she is punished with death by an equally determined and uncompromising privileged class which unleashes all kinds of terror to thwart her. It is a journey of an illiterate and poor woman who, in order to seek truth and justice becomes a pioneer of revolution and epitomises motherhood which is unbiased and just through her sacrifice.

Thayavva (Pramila Joshai) is the Indian equivalent of Pelagea Nilovna and her son Raju (Kumar Govind) portrays Pavel, the central characters in Mother. Set in a rural background, this national-award winning film brings forth the clash of ideals with realism, the helplessness of the poor company workers who voice their concern over the atrocities of the company owners, a corrupt police officer (Sundar Raj) and an identical politician, who brazenly admit their inefficiency.

The dialogues in the movie are an eye opener for the new born revolutionaries who seem to carry force for aggression and resistance for revenge. The dialogues also speak volumes about the government’s subservience to private interests. But unlike the novel, the ending gives hope. However the same dialogues seem to cause cinematic expressions to lose their charm due to the emphasis laid on the former. But kudos to Barguru Ramachandrappa for making a successful attempt in conveying the message.

He has also handled dialogues, lyrics and music apart from direction. Pramila Joshai has acted well but has more potential than this. Ditto with Kumar Govind. The song Baruthe ve nav baruthe ve is inspiring and emerges as the theme song. The film of course has a niche audience.