Mothers and movie marquee moments are inseparable. MGR, almost had his opening shot with him entering the scene saying, “Vetri, Vetri” to the actor playing his mother.
Penn began with the episode “Hemavukku Kalyanam” (Hema getting married), essentially the story of a mother and daughter played by Srividya and Revathy.
Coming to mother characters we see now, like Pradeep Ranganathan’s Love Today (2022), the climax is not on the young pair but is a sit-down dialogue between the mother and son.
Tamil masala cinema, and of course, Telugu cinema follow a mother template. The hero will have one mother sentiment scene amongst all the other scenes.
A new-age mom played so elegantly has to be Simran, who played a mother in Mani Ratnam’s Kannathil Muthamittal (2002) and Gautham Menon’s Vaaranam Aayiram (2008).
An actor can play mommy roles even in her younger years provided the mother is the film’s central character. It’s up to our writers and directors to give them such roles.