Films today are made on very big budgets, but not all of them succeed in getting great returns. In the past also, there were movies that were more expensive than others. However, some of them are made on a smaller budget and end up becoming bigger hits. This year, we saw that with Munjya and Malayalam movies like Manjummel Boys, Premalu, etc. In Bollywood, during the 70s, there was a movie made on a budget of Rs 30 lakh and gave tough competition to Sholay.
48 years ago, a movie called Jai Santoshi Maa was released in theatres on May 30, 2024. In 1975, it earned crores, a lot more than its budget. On its first day, the movie made a collection of Rs 56 in Mumbai and Rs 100 on day 3. At that time, trade analysts called it a flop film. But eventually, word of mouth helped it fetch more audiences to the theatres. In no time, it became a big hit. The movie ran in theatres for at least 50 weeks.
Jai Santohsi Maa was directed by Vijay Sharma and starred Kanan Kaushal, Anita Guha, Rajani Bala, and others. The movie earned Rs 5 crore at the box office. However, the filmmakers saw no profit in its earnings as the distributors were apprehensive to take the film. Eventually, Kedarnath Agarwal and Sandeep Sethi decided to distribute the movie. But the movie's producer, Satram Rohra, declared bankruptcy as he didn't see a single rupee from its success.
As reported by Indiacom, Kedarnath's brother allegedly committed fraud and took all the earnings. Hence, Satram and Kedarnath suffered. When the movie was released and started picking up, it gave a tough competition to Amitabh Bachchan, Dharmendra, Jaya Bachchan, and Hema Malini's Sholay. Directed by Ramesh Sippy, it was released in theatres on August 15, 1975.
