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"Faith is to believe
what you do not see; the reward of this faith is to see what you believe."
— Saint Augustine
"Faith sees the
invisible, believes the unbelievable, and receives the impossible." —
Corrie ten Boom
"Faith is the strength
by which a shattered world shall emerge into the light." — Helen Keller
“It’s not about faith, it’s
about how you tell the story about the faith” …Me.
Augustine of Hippo, also
well-known as Saint Augustine, was a Christian theologian and philosopher from
Thagaste (Died 28 August 430 AD) Cornelia Arnolda
Johanna "Corrie" ten Boom was a Dutch watchmaker and later a
Christian writer and public speaker. Helen Adams Keller was an American author,
disability rights advocate, political activist and lecturer who lost her
hearing & eye sight at age of nineteen & lived till eighty-seven years.
Well, Siant Augustine nobody has seen or met but the rest of two are very much
from our mortal world (and Me too) & what they all wrote about one aspect
which differentiates humans from all rest living animals is very true & its
faith! Especially our Hindu philosophy revolves around this one word & so
does ancient Chinese philosophies also though western world was never much in
fond & yet they believe in Jesus & his rebirth or say reappearance post
death! Well, you must have guessed by now with my love about movies & the
current rage post Dhurandhar, yes Hanuman Ansh! If you don’t know what’s this,
which probably most Gen Zs’ or even so-called grownups educated ones must now
have watched then I am sure you must have come across at least some post about
its success (commercial of course) on Insta or Google ads as FB no more many
people take seriously though they do post (sarcasm)!
Ok, it’s a movie about a Nib
Karori (not Nim Karloli) Baba, who was very much real & passed away in 1973
& was a great devotee of Haunamanji (plz google). I myself too am a devotee
of Hanumanji but I won’t share or spend time about what I do as a
devotee! Because that’s not subject of the sharing but my movie-love pulled me
towards Hanuman Ansh, as after ages there is a Bollywood movie which was
supposedly about a Saint (Sadhu) & his life & he is not philosopher or
Gyan sharing Saint, just a simple man from normal family, so how the movie went
on making crores & become one of the greatest all-time hits of Pan India
cinema already & still going, was my subject of interest! Just to give you an idea,
Dhurandhar which is supposedly made some 3000 plus crores rupees (both parts
combine) is way ahead on gross collection than HA (hanuman Ansh short form lol)
but it's making & publicity spending is more than 1200 crore rupees, means
the profit is double or say max triple, a guess! HA movies making & total
expenses are said to be 2 crores rupees & it’s already earned nearly 300
crores & still counting & this doesn’t include OTT money which will
follow, now tell me who is more hit, Dhurandhar or HA, is my subject or
interest & sharing & study! And yes, Disclaimer (Terms & Conditions
applicable); I am not justifying any miracle or such act shown in the movie
Hanuman Ansh, nor I expect people to believe whatever has been shown in it
about Nib Karori baba’s supernatural power, that’s up to individuals’
discretion, my sharing is about the way movie has been made & presented
& its success with masses & on box office!
Before we analyse success of
HA, nearly fifty years back there were two movies, Santoshi Maa & Shirdi ke
Saibaba, made in low budget & they broke all box office records, though
back then there was no 100-crore club thing but I remember vaguely (as I was
5/7-year-old then) in 1975 the entire theatre singing (mostly ladies) aarti of
Santoshi Maa when the song used to play on the screen, it was mass hysteria!
Same thing repeated two years later, 1977 with Shirdi ke Saibaba (sure no need
to introduce Saint Saibaba) got released & devotees made box office ringing
like anything, in both movies actors & rest crew’s names were not known
much except Saibaba was produced bay Manoj Kumar out of his personal devotion
for the Saint & he also didn’t think that this will be his life’s biggest
hit in term of money earnings! Why I mentioned these two movie’s names is
because Hanuman Ansh made me remember these movies as no success is an
accident, it may look like one yet somewhere you hit a formula which has all
potential for a hit just you don’t know about it, is the case then also &
today too! Year 1975 & that era was full of unrest, which is why the Angry
Young Man Hero became the Super Star of all time where most of the youngsters
& mid-age men could correlate with his way of dealing with society &
hardships of life! But what about women & people who were not physically
fit or knew their limitations about fighting with the system & even in
movies couldn’t relate with Angry Young Man’s actions, well, the answer was in
Santoshi Maa & Saibaba! Evry young & middle-aged woman in the society
could correlate with troubled (tortured) Daughter-in-Law in Santoshi Maa who is
helped by the goddess for her survival fight in Sasural & all ends with
good things. And in Saibaba, a middle-class family man was helped by powers of
Saibaba & there to all ends well, what more connection with masses could
have been there than this & outcome was not just commercial success of
these two movies but the way they reached to the hearts of their watchers,
mostly common families!
But this is 2026, a most
commercial digitalized so-called intelligent era of all times & ruled by
Gen-Z. Today everything is available to everybody on screen & nothing can
make this genre surprize or to make them believe & in such scenario how a
movie about a Baba (Saint) to whom most of these people has never ever seen
could make them believe in him but connects with the movie to make it the
biggest Sleeper Hit (plz google about the term)! Answer lies in three things
(by me), one, this period is also of unrest & of insecurity &
this unrest is generated not because of lack of something but because of plentyness
(too much) of everything, as deep within most of us are unhappy & not at
peace, though on surface (read as on Insta & FB) all are busy in showing
how best their life is! And second is the way story is being told, as
its not complicated with turns & twists but can happen with any of us or
around any of us, is something we have forgotten to experience & yes third
thing, no darkness about the presentation of the story, no blood shade, no
abusive language, no flesh exposure (item songs) or no patch-up comedy
characters, as people have got bored of it & needed a break where they can
watch something simple & day to day goodness of life which we have
forgotten! A neighbourhood which cares for you, gives you shelter, shares their
food with you without asking your caste or religion, this is what we are as an
Indian society, & this we have forgotten to watch! And then there are scenes
like Baba making a gora (angrej) surrender to his powers & devotion by
stopping a train in which the angrej was travelling, adding dash of our Mythic
power’s victory over the western world, a perfect blend of all the masala which
has a potential of a super hit is there in HA! This is the reason why years
after years & for nearly a century, Disney studio keeps presenting similar
stories with earnest simplicity & feel-good approach adding dash of magic
& miracles & outcome is, most of their movies become a commercial hit.
In the past we too had a dash of such storytelling, “Ashtavinayak” was one such
in modern times & was a good commercial hit but in the midway somewhere
today's movie makers misjudged the new age generation as non-believer of magic
or faith in goodness & stopped doing such movies. But we forget, the same
so called non-believer society in magic & miracles has made movies like
“Stree” a hit where there are miracles, magic but on dark side so all it needed
is a story which will touch the hearts of the masses with magic & miracles
blended with faith for goodness & what better story can there be which
involves journey of a believer common kid towards becoming a saint & that
too with god which is most common in central India i.e., Hanumanji, is the true
success of Hanuman Ansh!
Do mind, I come from a town
(khamgaon) which itself is known by the Saint i.e. Gajanan-maharaj of Shegaon
& people still believe that he had magic powers & there used to be
oldies in my childhood who had witnessed Maharaj doing miracles, again individuals’
discretion to believe or not! But the best part of HA is the Nib Karori baba
does perform his miracles in a very subtle way, for e.g. when a poor man comes
to him for illness of his wife, Baba asks him, “Baid ko dikhya? (have you shown
her to a doctor), when the poor man says no then Baba says, Baid ko dikhao sab
thik ho jayega! In another scene, when some farmers come complaining about
their crops being stolen at night, baba says, increase night watch & all
will be well. Means Baba has shown telling his devotees not to rely totally on
god (or any such power) but put your efforts in the problem at hand & then
the gods will be with you, isn’t it true everywhere for any believer? Agreed,
there are some miracles shown but then it can be a case of mass hypnotization
also (for a non-believer) what is important is the outcome of having faith
& yet putting our full efforts, no harm in it, right? Faith & hope
should be our strength & not become our crutches making us weak, is the message
from Baba, which is very important, especially for today’s devotees!
Full marks to team of
Hanuman Ansh as by its commercial success, it has once again proved a right
product always succeed & here the product was not some Nib Karori Baba but
the way his story been told, after all we all believe in something (most of us)
& stores like hanuman Ansh makes our belief strong not just in miracles or
super powers but by giving (read as gifting) the most important thing i.e. Hope! If the devotees are going
back home happily after watching Baba pulling them out of their troubles, then
many youngsters & grownups now can believe, if this movie with such small
budget can make a mega hit, then I also can succeed in my project however
difficult it may look for now, that’s the biggest success by me of Hanuman
Ansh! And all kudos to the producers, director & every person associated
with the movie for gifting us something we are lacking i.e. hope; Sitaram,
Sitaram; what better words I could have to say adios & yes, eagerly waiting
for Shesh Katha i.e. part2!
-
Sanjay Deshpande
Sanjeevani Dev.
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https://visonoflife.blogspot.com/2025/12/pune-real-estate-in-2026.html
https://jivnachadrushtikon.blogspot.com/2024/12/2025.html
https://jeevnachadrushtikon.blogspot.com/2026/08/
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