Made in just Rs 25 lakh, this film became Bollywood’s most profitable film ever, beating RRR, Sholay, Mughal-e-Azam, Pathaan, and Dangal
In the 1970s, Hindi cinema was discovering angst and violence in a western manner for the first time. The emergence of Amitabh Bachchan as the Angry Young Man as well as the rising fame of Vinod Khanna and Dharmendra meant that action films and thrillers galore. But amid this came a small-budget devotional film that broke the box office records. It not only outperformed big blockbusters but did so without any hero, villain, or fight scene.
Bollywood’s biggest hit film
Made on a budget of just Rs 25 lakh, the 1975 devotional film Jai Santoshi Maa proved to be the biggest sleeper hit in the history of Hindi cinema. Jai Santoshi Maa grossed Rs 5 crore at the box office. Adjusted for inflation, that figure would be close to Rs 1000 crore. This 2000% profit made Jai Santoshi Maa the most profitable Indian film ever, a record it holds to this day. No other Hindi film has been able to earn 20 times its budget in domestic earnings alone.
How Jai Santoshi Maa beat Sholay, Baahubali without hero or fights
Directed by Vijay Sharma, Jai Santoshi Maa followed the miracles performed by Santoshi Mata, the deity of satisfaction. It told the story through the tale of ordinary citizens and had no big stars in its cast. There were no antagonists and absolutely no fights or violence. Yet the film touched a chord with the audiences, particularly in small towns of north India. In many parts, Jai Santoshi Maa outperformed Sholay, which released later that year and was made on a budget 12 times as much as this film.
Sholay grossed Rs 15 crore in its original run but its profit was 400%, way lower than Jai Santoshi Maa. Even Baahubali 2 (600% profit), Dangal (1000% profit), and RRR (150% profit) pale in comparison to Jai Santoshi Maa’s brilliant run at the box office. The film spawned a remake in 2006, which was also a moderate success at the box office.
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