You know, while I was shooting for Dhadkan, my mother had accompanied Shamita to London for the shooting of Mohabbatein. It was so strange. For the first five days, I just kept crying at home. It was very depressing. Shamita has always been Daddy’s girl, and I’ve always spent time with mom.

But for the first time, I realised how much my sister must have sacrificed for me. At her most vulnerable age, mom was with me. And she never complained.

She taught both of us values which guide us in choosing the right path. When we entered the film industry, our orthodox Shetty community was shocked. But she stood firm, giving us support and encouragement."

Karisma Kapoor on her mother, Babita: "Whatever I am today is because of what my mother taught me. She told both Kareena and I that it was going to be very hard to make it in Bollywood. There would be a lot of sweat and tears. She said it might be easy to get a break because you are from a known family, but the day your film is released, you are nobody’s son, daughter or relative. You are what the box-office creates.

And the expectation from the star sons and daughters are so high and in my case and Kareena’s we had such a huge family reputation to live up to; right from our grandfather down to our uncles and aunts, everyone has had an outstanding career.

My mother has been with me through all the hardship and struggle I went through in he industry. Things were not easy and a lot of times, I would get discouraged, cry myself to sleep. She was the one who gave me hope to carry on, gave me hope that some day my hard work would pay off.

Initially, mom helped us negotiate in the film industry. Now, she leaves it to us, since we have been around for quite some time and know what we want. Unlike what the world thinks, and the way the gossip press has painted her to be, mom is a very non-interfering individual. She is protective and she wants us to do well, which gets misinterpreted by several people."

Actress Sushma Reddy on her mother, Niki: "The community I belong to, the Reddy community from Andhra Pradesh, is quite orthodox. Luckily for me, my mother was a chilled-out person and it’s her support that has allowed me to be what I am today.

The pressure on us sisters not to enter the modelling world was phenomenal. We come from a conservative Andhra family and right from childhood, vague concepts about what was considered proper and what made you a good girl were forced down our throat. It took me years to shrug it off and get on with life. It was mom who came to my rescue. She stood by me. She is a very modern person in her outlook. She is one of the most educated woman in the community, and also has a business of alternative therapies. She is quite an open and independent individual, and she has passed on these traits to me and my sisters, Meghna and Sameera."

Pooja Bedi on her mother, the late Protima Bedi: "You know till today people ask me if I found my mother’s behaviour shocking. Shocking is purely a matter of perspective. A burkha-clad, Taliban-controlled woman is shocked by a normal saree-clad, midriff displaying woman, who in turn is shocked by the mini-skirt generation. The mini-skirt girl may be shocked by someone sexually liberated as my mother. In turn, my mom would find the burkha-clad woman with no personal freedom or rights completely shocking. It all comes back a full circle. I had great fun with mom. I remember some great times with her. I remember the time when it rained really hard and the Mumbai streets were full of water. She turned an umbrella into a boat, put us into it, and my brother and I went sailing in it, down the water-clogged city roads. Can you think of any other mom who would have done this?

She wasn’t a hypocrite; she lived a life she wanted to. And she taught us to do the same. She may have led a bohemian lifestyle, but she was true to my brother and I. She was honest about everything, a trait she has passed on to me."

Malaika Arora on her mother: "My sister Amrita and I have taken traits like independence and self-respect from our mother. She has single-handedly brought us up. I remember spending great childhood days with mom — we would sit together and watch cricket; she would take us out for regular treats and on holidays. She was there when we needed her — from our first heart breaks to our tough career decisions. When I decided to model, I was very unsure. She was the one who made me make up my mind, because that’s what I wanted to do desperately. Mom was always a friend. I think most modern mothers rather than being authoritarian parents are the best friends of their daughters."

— INFS