EXCLUSIVE: Daya Shankar Pandey’s Mahima Shani Dev Ki created a Jai Santoshi Maa-like cultural phenomenon; sparked a 400% INCREASE in temples across India; Ramanand Sagar’s kin reveals, “My grandfather asked, ‘Yeh kaun dekhega? Shani se toh sab log darte hai’”
Ramanand Sagar’s Ramayan is arguably the most popular show in the history of Indian television. He and his family subsequently created several more devotional series for the small screen. While some of these shows had a significant cultural impact, their influence remains largely unknown. One such series was Mahima Shani Dev Ki, produced by Ramanand Sagar’s grandson Shiv Sagar and written by his son Prem Sagar, who is also Shiv’s father. Titled Mahima Shani Dev Ki, it was an overnight success and topped the charts for a long time. As per the website of Sagar World, “the number of Saturn (Shani) temples went up by 400% in the entire country due to the impact of the show, which for the first time showed Shani in a positive light as a planet of justice and punishment, versus a harsh planet that everyone was afraid of!”
The show’s impact mirrored the cultural phenomenon witnessed after the release of Jai Santoshi Maa (1975), often described as one of the biggest return-on-investment successes in Indian cinema. In a May 2025 article published by The Times of India to mark the film’s 50th anniversary, it was noted that anthropologist Veena Das had written in 1981 about how Santoshi Ma temples proliferated following the movie’s success, “not only in metropolitan cities but also in pilgrim cities like Varanasi”. She explained, “After watching the film, many bhakts wanted to visit a Santoshi Mata mandir to express their devotion, to do fasting rituals or just sit there to pay obeisance. That’s why so many mandirs came up at that time.” Mahima Shani Dev Ki appears to have created a similarly extraordinary cultural impact.
In an exclusive interview with Bollywood Hungama, Shiv Sagar revealed, “My dad, Prem Sagar, conceived that show in 1992. He went to my grandfather and expressed the desire to make a show on Shani. My grandfather asked him, ‘Yeh kaun dekhega? Shani se toh sab log darte hai’.”
He added, “But in 2008, we got an opportunity. For the first time, we cast a positive face – Daya Shankar Pandey – for Shani. Until then, makers had usually portrayed Shani in an aggressive or negative avatar. Meanwhile, our take was very different on the show. If you’ve done something wrong and Shani is the God of Justice and Punishment, He’s just doing His job. So, don’t blame Him. Blame yourself for indulging in some wrongdoing (laughs)!”
Shiv continued, “This take was different and it worked. Then, so many other shows came on Shani Dev. There was a show on Colors TV as well. But we were the original creators in 2008 for NDTV Imagine.”
He also stated, “That show did very well. It ran for 4 years and always topped the charts. Then it was aired on Dangal TV because Manish R Goswami ji had acquired the rights. Even on Dangal, it was the number one show. Meanwhile, Dangal was the number one FTA channel in India, courtesy all the Sagar shows.”
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