Jai Santoshi Maa (1975)

 ●  Hindi ● 2 hrs 25 mins

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Starting life as a routine B picture, the film made history by becoming one of the biggest hits of the year (with Sholay and Deewar), and made a little-known mother goddess into one of the most popular icons esp. among the urban working-class women who started observing the goddess’s ritual fast on 12 consecutive Fridays and made offerings of chick-peas. The foremost earthly disciple of the deity Santoshi (Guha) is Satyavati (Kaushal). When Satyavati marries the itinerant Birju, the wives of the celestial trio Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva feel envious and create a series of problems intended to test Satyavati’s devotion. After Santoshi has made the heavens literally rock with her rage, Satyavati emerges from her trials with her faith untarnished and so allows Santoshi to be accepted into the cosmic pantheon. The movie was lucidly analysed by the anthropologist Veena Das in her essay ‘The Mythological Film and its Framework of Meaning’ (1980). I. Masud noted some revealing differences between this mythological and its classic predecessors, showing this film to be far closer to ‘daily preoccupations’ than its generic models (e.g. gods also engage in frenetic quarrels).
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Did you know? After the success of the film, Anita Guha was treated with much reverence for portraying the goddess Santoshi Maa. People would visit her home to seek her blessings and would touch her feet when they spotted her in public. Read More
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as Devi Maa Santoshi
as Birajram / Borjo
Supporting Actor
Supporting Actress
Supporting Actor
as Durga
as Satyavati's dad
Supporting Actor
Supporting Actor
as Satyavati
Supporting Actress
as Birajram's mom
as Dayaram
as Devi Maa Brahmani
as Bhairavram
Supporting Actress
Supporting Actor
Supporting Actor
Supporting Actor
Supporting Actress

Direction

Director

Production

Producer
Production Company

Camera and Electrical

Director of Photography

Music

Music Director
Lyricist
Film Type:
Feature
Language:
Hindi
Colour Info:
Color
Sound Mix:
Mono
Frame Rate:
24 fps
Aspect Ratio:
2.35:1
Stereoscopy:
No
Trivia:
After the success of the film, Anita Guha was treated with much reverence for portraying the goddess Santoshi Maa. People would visit her home to seek her blessings and would touch her feet when they spotted her in public.

Despite being a low-budget film, this movie surprisingly turned out to be one of the top blockbusters of all time.

The theatres where the film released were treated like Temples. People would distribute sweets outside the theatre as Prashad (Sweet of God), and many would leave their footwear outside the theatre before going to watch the film as a respect to the goddess.