Jai Santoshi Ma

Jai Santoshi Maa
Cover art for the DVD release of the film
जय संतोषी माँ
Directed by	Vijay Sharma
Produced by	Satram Rohara
Starring	Kanan Kaushal Bharat Bhushan Ashish Kumar (actor) Anita Guha
Music by	C. Arjun
Cinematography	Sudhendu Roy
Release date	30th may 1975
Running time	130 minutes
Language	Hindi
Box office	₹5 crore (Nett Gross)

Jai Santoshi Maa (Devnagari: जय संतोषी माँ) is a 1975 low-budget Hindi film that became one of the top blockbusters of all time.Santoshī Mā (also called Santoshi Mata) is the goddess of satisfaction. Usha Mangeshkar, sister of Lata Mangeshkar, sang the devotional songs for the film along with Mahendra Kapoor and the famous poet Pradeep, who wrote the lyrics of the songs.

The film opens in the Dev Lok (Hindi for Devaloka) or "the world of the gods," a Hindu heaven located above the clouds, where we witness the "birth" of Goddess Santoshi ("Santoshi Maa") as the daughter of Lord Ganesha, the elephant headed god of good beginnings, and his two wives Riddhi and Siddhi ("prosperity" and "spiritual power"). Although, Lord Vinayaka has another wife Buddhi ("wisdom") and another son, Kshema ("well-being"), other than Shubha ("auspiciousness") and Labha ("profit"), they are not portrayed in the film. A key role is played by the immortal sage Narada, a devotee of Lord Vishnu, 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), 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 meets, falls in love with, and manages to marry the handsome lad Brijmohan ("Birju"), youngest of seven brothers in a prosperous Bias Brahmin farmer family, an artistic flute-playing type who can also render a zippy bhajan on request (Apni Santoshi Maa, "Our Mother Santoshi"). 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 (in a delightful scene back in heaven) "stirs up" the "jealousy" of three senior goddesses, Lakshmi, Parvati, and Brahmani (a.k.a. Sarasvati)— the wives of the "Hindu trinity" of Vishnu, Lord Shiva, and Brahma—against the "upstart" goddess Santoshi Ma. 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 the granddaughter of Universal Mother Parvati to test Satyavati's devotion.