The most profitable Bollywood film ever earned Rs 5 crore on just a Rs 25 lakh-budget, almost beating Sholay at the box office.
It has often been debated if films have the power to influence the society or are they just a means of entertainment. Often, films like Rang De Basanti have challenged the second notion, stirring something in the society that cannot explain the ‘just entertainment’ tag given to films. But perhaps the best example of this phenomenon is this 1975 film, which was not only a big blockbuster but reignited a religious movement nationally.
Bollywood’s most profitable film is...
Jai Santoshi Maa, a religious film directed by Vijay Sharma, was originally meant to be a run-of-the-mill devotional film. It had no big star with Kanan Kaushal, Ashish Kumar, and Anita Guha in the lead. Bharat Bhushan, who played a key role, was no longer the big star he used to be in the 50s. The film had a budget of Rs 25 lakh only, a low figure even back then. And yet, Jai Santoshi Maa rewrote record books by minting over Rs 5 crore worldwide, running to packed houses nationally for months. And it did so without using anyt of the tropes considered ‘essential’ for box office success – action, comedy, or romance.
How Jai Santoshi Maa almost beat Sholay
Jai Santoshi Maa’s Rs 5-crore haul at the box office made it one of the highest grossing Indian films at the time and till August, the highest grossing Indian film of 1975 as well. It was only after Sholay began its run in September that Jai Santoshi Maa was dethroned. While Sholay eventually won the box office battle, minting Rs 15 crore, Jai Santoshi Maa was still the better performer in several parts of India, including rural centres in UP and Bihar. No mean feat for a film made in just Rs 25 lakh.
Jai Santoshi Maa’s impact on India
Jai Santoshi Maa was based on the legend of the deity Santoshi Mata, a Hindu goddess venerated as the ‘Mother of Satisfaction’. While Santoshi Mata emerged in the 1960s, her prayer and following spread via word of mouth through that first decade, she wasn’t a nationwide phenomenon by 1975. Till then, she was known only among devotees, largely in North India. But Jai Santoshi Maa galvanised the Santoshi Mata movement, bringing the relatively unknown deity into the mainstream. Images and shrines were built to her and as many social scientists noted, she soon entered the mainstream pan-Hindu pantheon of gods.
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 "A still from Jai Santoshi Maa")
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