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970s was a decade of turmoil as frustrations began to grow among the urban population, especially among the youths, over issues concerning politics and the socio economic changes that rocked India as a nation. This period saw films like: ‘Ankur’, ‘Deewar’, ‘Kalpurush’ etc portraying this growing sense of anger of the people. ‘Jai Santoshi Maa’, going completely against this flow, set a new trend, the reason of which still baffles the critics. Though the film was a journey back to the initial days of Mythological genre, the film nevertheless was a runaway hit and cinema halls used to get transformed into temporary temples by the millions of religious film lovers. This film, many say, had added Santoshi Maa to the already filled up list of billions of divinity existing in the Hindu religion. This mythological film narrates the story of a young wife, who after facing several hardships and by Santoshi Maa’s grace of course, finally gets her husband back. The phenomenal success of this film highlighted the super hero status of Deities in the Indian households.The main plot deals with the jealousy of the divine trinity (Lakshmi, Parvati, and Brahmani) over Santoshi Maa’s growing popularity among people and the sub plot is concerned with the misfortune that befalls a couple as a result of the tussle between the divine trinity on one hand and Santoshi Maa on the other hand.
Satyavati (Kanan Kaushal), an unparalleled devotee of Santoshi Maa (Anita Guha), is rewarded by the goddess as the former gets married to a rich, young and handsome lad Birju (Ashish Kumar). However, owing to a trouble with his family members, Birju sets out alone to make his own fortune. Being instigated by Narada (the divine conspirator), the in laws of Satyavati make her life a living hell.
She gets beaten up, is starved and has to bear the venomous tongues of her sister-in-laws. However, Santoshi Maa always comes to her rescue. Birju too suffers, as the divine trinity, being hell bent on testing the couples’ belief in Santoshi Maa, drives him to the watery grave.
Santoshi Maa, by her divine intervention, saves him. Birju’s ordeal does not end easily and he loses his memory- thanks again to the malevolent divine trinity. The end however brings good luck to the couple as Birju, having recovered from Amnesia and earning a lot of money, comes back to Satyavati. The two thereafter remain happy for ever.
There has been much brain storming done over the causes of the success of this film. Different reasons have emerged. One of them is certainly the importance of religion in the Indian life which the director Vijay Sharma fully exploited in this film to the highest extent. Secondly, this film was made mainly for the female spectators.
The presence of deities was reason enough for them to go and see the film. The reasons may differ but it’s undeniable that ‘Jai Santoshi Maa’, despite having some crudest special effects, proved to be one of the most successful religious films ever made. Del.Icio.Us Tags: Milestones of Indian Cinema- Jai Santoshi Maa
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