''Jai Santoshi Maa'' is a 1975 Indian

Hindi Hindi ( Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been ...

-language devotional film directed by Vijay Sharma and written R. Priyadarshi. Santoshī Mā (also called Santoshi Mata) is the goddess of satisfaction.

Usha Mangeshkar Usha Mangeshkar (born 15 December 1935) is an Indian singer who has recorded many Marathi, Manipuri, Hindi, Bengali, Kannada, Nepali, Bhojpuri, Gujarati and Assamese songs. Personal life Usha Mangeshkar is an Indian singer. She is the fou ...

, sang the devotional songs for the film along with Mahendra Kapoor and the famous poet

Kavi Pradeep Kavi Pradeep (born Ramchandra Narayanji Dwivedi; 6 February 1915 – 11 December 1998), was an Indian poet and songwriter who is best known for his patriotic song "''Aye Mere Watan Ke Logo"'' written as a tribute to the soldiers who had died d ...

, who wrote the lyrics of the songs. Made on a low-budget, the film became one of the most successful films at the box office.

Plot

The film opens in the Devaloka, where we witness the "birth" of Goddess Santoshi Mata as the daughter of

Ganesha Ganesha ( sa, गणेश, ), also known as Ganapati, Vinayaka, and Pillaiyar, is one of the best-known and most worshipped Deva_(Hinduism), deities in the Hindu deities, Hindu pantheon and is the Supreme God in Ganapatya sect. His image is ...

, the elephant headed god of good beginnings, his two wives Riddhi and Siddhi ("prosperity" and "spiritual power"), sons Kshema and Labha ("prosperity" and "profit"). Although,

has another wife Buddhi ("wisdom"), she is not portrayed in the film. A key role is played by the immortal sage

Narada Narada ( sa, नारद, ), or Narada Muni, is a sage divinity, famous in Hindu traditions as a travelling musician and storyteller, who carries news and enlightening wisdom. He is one of mind-created children of Brahma, the creator god. He ...

, a devotee of

Vishnu Vishnu ( ; , ), also known as Narayana and Hari, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the supreme being within Vaishnavism, one of the major traditions within contemporary Hinduism. Vishnu is known as "The Preserver" withi ...

, and a cosmic busybody who regularly intervenes to advance the film's two parallel plots, which concern both human beings and gods. We soon meet the 18th-century maiden Satyavati Sharma (

Kanan Kaushal Indumati Paingankar ( Sheth), better known as Kanan Kaushal, is an Indian actress, most famous for starring in ''Jai Santoshi Maa'' (1975) and Pardesi. The low-budget film became a huge box office hit and a cultural phenomenon. She has acted i ...

), Santoshi Mata's greatest earthly devotee, leading a group of women in an aarti to the goddess. This first song, "Main To Arti Utaru" (I perform Mother Santoshi's aarti) exemplifies through its camerawork the experience of ''darshan'' —of "seeing" and being seen by a deity in the reciprocal act of "visual communion" that is central to Hindu worship. Through the Mother's grace, Satyavati soon falls in love with Brijmohan aka Birju, the youngest of seven brothers in a prosperous Bias Brahmin farmer family, an artistic man, with a talent for singing. Alas, with the boy come the in-laws, and two of Birju's six sisters-in-law, Durga and Maya are jealous shrews who have it in for him and Satyavati from the beginning. To make matters worse, Narada "stirs up" the "jealousy" of the three principal goddesses,

Lakshmi Lakshmi (; , sometimes spelled Laxmi, ), also known as Shri (, ), is one of the principal goddesses in Hinduism. She is the goddess of wealth, fortune, power, beauty, fertility and prosperity, and associated with ''Maya'' ("Illusion"). Alo ...

Parvati Parvati ( sa, पार्वती, ), Uma ( sa, उमा, ) or Gauri ( sa, गौरी, ) is the Hindu goddess of power, energy, nourishment, harmony, love, beauty, devotion, and motherhood. She is a physical representation of Mahadevi i ...

, and

Saraswati Saraswati ( sa, सरस्वती, ) is the Hindu goddess of knowledge, music, art, speech, wisdom, and learning. She is one of the Tridevi, along with the goddesses Lakshmi and Parvati. The earliest known mention of Saraswati as a g ...

against the "upstart" goddess Santoshi Mata. They decide to examine (pariksha) her perseverance or faith (Shraddha) by making life miserable for her chief devotee. Of course, this is all just a charade and the holy goddesses are just acting as if they are jealous of Santoshi Mata to test Satyavati's devotion. After a fight with his relatives, Birju leaves home to seek his fortune, narrowly escaping a watery grave (planned for him by the goddesses) through his wife's devotion to Santoshi Mata. Nevertheless, the divine ladies convince his family that he is indeed dead, adding the stigma of widowhood to Satyavati's other woes. Her sisters-in-law treat her like a slave, beat and starve her, and a local rogue attempts to rape her; Santoshi Mata rescues her several times. Eventually, Satyavati is driven to attempt suicide, but is stopped by Narada, who tells her about the sixteen-Fridays fast in honour of Santoshi Mata, which can grant any wish. Satyavati completes it with great difficulty and more divine assistance, and just in the nick of time: for the now-prosperous Birju, stricken with amnesia by the goddesses and living in a distant place, has fallen in love with a rich merchant's daughter. Through Santoshi Mata's grace, he gets his memory back and returns home laden with wealth. When he discovers the awful treatment given to his wife, he builds a palatial home for the two of them, complete with an in-house temple to the Holy Mother. Satyavati plans a grand ceremony upon the completion of her fast and invites her in-laws. But the celestials and sadistic sisters-in-law make a last-ditch effort to ruin her by squeezing lime juice into one of the dishes (the rules of Santoshi Mata's fast forbid eating, or serving, any sour or bitter food). All hell breaks loose, before peace is finally restored, on earth as it is in heaven, and a new deity is triumphantly welcomed to the pantheon, as Lakshmi, Saraswati and Parvati have been convinced of Satyavati's devotion.

Cast

as Satyavati Vyas (née Sharma) * Ashish Kumar as Brijmohan ("Birju") Vyas *

Anita Guha Anita Guha (17 January 1932 – 20 June 2007) was an Indian actress who usually played mythological characters in films. She became known for playing the title role in ''Jai Santoshi Maa'' (1975). Previously, she had played Sita in other mytholo ...

as Shri Santoshi Mata *

Bharat Bhushan ''Bharatbhushan Bhalla'' better known as ''Bharat Bhushan'' (14 June 1920 – 27 January 1992) was an Indian actor in Hindi language films, scriptwriter and producer, who is best remembered for playing Baiju Bawra in the 1952 film of the s ...

as Pandit Devidutt Sharma, Satyavati's Father *Rajani Bala as Geeta *

Trilok Kapoor Trilok Kapoor (11 February 1912 23 September 1988) was an Indian actor and a member of the Kapoor family who worked in Bollywood films. He was the younger brother of actor Prithviraj Kapoor. Early and personal life Trilok was born as the sec ...

as Lord Shiva *

Bela Bose Bela Bose is an Indian dancer and actress who was active in Hindi films during the 1960s and 70s. Early life Bela Bose was born in Calcutta in a well-to-do family. Her father was a cloth merchant and her mother was a homemaker. Following a ...

as Durga Vyas * B. M. Vyas as Geeta Father and jeweller businessman *Rajan Haksar as Bhairav "Bhairavram" Vyas *Manohar Desai as Dayakar ("Dayaram") Vyas *Dilip Dutta * Mahipal as Devarishi Narada *

Padmarani Padmarani, also spelled as Padma Rani, was an Indian actress who performed in Gujarati plays, Gujarati films, and Hindi films. Early life Padmarani was born to a Maharashtrian family in Pune, Maharashtra on 25 January 1937. She was brought u ...

as Devi Mata Brahmani *

Leela Mishra Leela Mishra (1 January 1908 – 17 January 1988) was an Indian actress. She worked as a character actor in over 200 Hindi films for five decades, and is best remembered for playing stock characters such as aunts (''Chachi'' or ''Mausi''). She ...

* Sushila Devi

Soundtrack

Song composed by C. Arjun and lyricist written by Kavi Pradeep

Awards and nominations

*BFJA Award for Best Male Playback Singer (Hindi Section) – Pradeep for the song "Yahan Wahan" *BFJA Award for Best Female Playback Singer (Hindi Section) –

* Filmfare Nomination for Best Female Playback Singer –

for the song "Main To Aarti"1st Filmfare Awards 1953
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References

External links

*{{IMDb title, id=0073191 1970s Hindi-language films 1975 films Hindu mythological films