Keep the faith, Santoshi Maa returns

Hyderabad: The film Jai Santoshi Maa topped the popularity charts with blockbusters like Sholay and Deewar when it released in 1975. Now, it's being remade for a new generation.

Virtually unknown stars and small sets - there are many things that are common between the old Jai Santoshi Ma and the GenNext version.

But those things didn't come in the way of the original becoming a superhit in the same year that Sholay released. This time too, everyone involved with the film is keeping the faith even if they have ditched the Maganlal Dresswala costumes for a more contemporary look.

The epic spiritual film is being shot at the Ramoji Film City in Hyderabad by Percept Picture Company. "It is a fallacy to equate religion and faith only with period films or shall we say with ancient sensibilities," Business Head, Feature Films, Percept Picture Company, Akhauri P Sinha said.

"In today's world faith seems to be missing. So, I think a film like this would definitely make a difference to the lives of the people," actor Rakesh Bapat said.

While another actor Nushrat Bharucha said that the look of the film is different and that is what made her sign on the dotted line. "The film sounded good and it being completely traditional doesn’t bother me," she said.

The Rs 10-crore film is being directed by Ahmed Siddiqui who believes that faith is "beyond time and age." "We all have our beliefs and this film is an extension of that," he added.

The fact that the makers of this Rs 10-crore film are practicing secularism on their sets is more than evident in the fact that they've hired a Muslim director to helm the picture.

"Faith is beyond time and age. We all have our beliefs," director Ahmed Siddiqui said.

While the search for the titular goddess is still on, the makers of the new Santoshi Maa film are working steadily to make a late 2006 release.

So, it's not so much lights, camera, action, but more like, phool, chandan and aarti on the sets.

The original film started a religious fervour among cinema audiences but what remains to seen is whether this film will bring back the same fervour with the new generation.

(For updates you can share with your friends, follow IBNLive on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Pinterest)