The box office success of The Kashmir Files has astonished business analysts. The film without any big banner, without any so-called superstar, without hit songs and dance numbers, and most importantly, without any big marketing budget is a massive hit on the box office. Even on the ninth day, it continued its increasing graph of the box office collection. This performance made trade analysts recall another such historic performance by the movie Jai Santoshi Mata that was made in 1975. Jay Santoshi Mata gave a tough fight to Sholay at the box office in 1975.
Film critic Taran Adarsh has tweeted about the immense success of The Kashmir Files. Taran Adarsh, in his tweet, recalls the time of 1975 when the film Jai Santoshi Maa was released in cinema halls. He told how this film was released with Sholay but still, it was a success. It is notable that a week before the release of The Kashmir Files, Nagraj Manjule’s much-awaited film Jhund was released. Amitabh Bachchan played the lead role in Jhund. Star music composers Ajay-Atul are the musicians of this film. Akshay Kumar starrer Bachchan Pandey and Alia Bhat starrer Gangubai Kathiyawadi are among the other mainstream Bollywood films whose business is dented by The Kashmir Files.
Taran Adarsh wrote, “I was witness to the unparalleled hysteria of Jai Santoshi Maa in 1975. It faced a mighty opponent in Sholay, yet rewrote HISTORY then. It’s happened the second time, after 47 years, The Kashmir Files is also creating HISTORY. Demolishing records, setting NEW BENCHMARKS.”
I was witness to the unparalleled hysteria of #JaiSantoshiMaa in 1975… It faced a mighty opponent in #Sholay, yet rewrote HISTORY then.
— taran adarsh (@taran_adarsh) March 19, 2022
It’s happened the second time, after 47 years… #TheKashmirFiles is also creating HISTORY… Demolishing records, setting NEW BENCHMARKS. pic.twitter.com/yfabnNLyI4
Jai Santoshi Maa was released on 15th August 1975, the same day on which the film Sholay was released in Mumbai. Sholay is one of the biggest hits of Indian cinemas. But in the first week, Sholay was a flop. Whatever glory it attained at the box office is due to the momentum it gained in later weeks. Sholay was the first film of director Ramesh Sippy. It had a big star cast including Dharmendra, Amitabh Bachchan, Sanjeev Kumar, Hema Malini, and Jaya Bhaduri. RD Burman, one of the biggest musicians of that era gave music for this film. Salim-Javed, the famous writer duo penned the film. Singers like Lata Mangeshkar and Kishor Kumar gave playback voices to the songs in Sholay. Despite all this, Sholay, made with a budget of 3 crore rupees was a flop in the first week or two. It was only after it was released in other parts of the country on 11th October that Sholay went on to collect 35 crore rupees at the box office.
But Jai Santoshi Maa, a film made with a budget as low as 25 lakh rupees went on to become a massive hit though it had big films like Deewar and Sholay to compete with at the box office. Jai Santoshi Maa had a not-much-known star cast. The film had Bharat Bhushan among the main actors but even his era was on a sharp decline by 1975. C. Arjun gave music to the film while Usha Mangeshkar and Mahendra Kapoor gave their voice to the songs. As the people started talking about the devotional film, crowds automatically turned to the theatres which made this film a bumper hit. Jai Santoshi Maa caught the public nerve so accurately that viewers used to leave their footwear outside the cinema hall as if they were going to worship the deity in some temple. People used to decorate the screen with garlands of flowers on the side frames. Devotees used to offer coins as they watched the deity in this film.
At that time, Jai Santoshi Maa surprised everyone by earning the highest amount after Sholay. People used to come from far and wide on the bullock cart to see this film. The film had earned Rs 56 in the first show, 64 in the second and Rs 98 in the evening show, and barely Rs 100 in the night show. But after this, the film’s impact on the people was such that the film remained on the screen for months. According to current information, the worldwide collection of Jai Santoshi Maa was around Rs 10 crore, with which it became the highest-grossing film after Sholay that year. The success achieved by The Kashmir Files at the box office thus made people remember the commercial success of the film Jai Santoshi Maa that was released on the same day as other big-budget films Sholay and Deewar.
However, the box office success was not the success of Jai Santoshi Maa, it had achieved which no other movie has achieved. The movie had actually introduced a large number of Indians with a Hindu Goddess they had not heard about before. Yes, before the release of Jai Santoshi Maa, not many people had heard about Goddess Santoshi. But after the release of the movie, lakhs of people had become her devotees. Temples were built for Santoshi Maa, and religious rituals were started. Thus, Santoshi Maa is also called “celluloid goddess”.
