I know, Im whitebread american but I have discovered the rather existential fun of bollywood … 
I have a couple questions about the movie. I liked it, but am bemused about something.
Does the religion have a trickster tradition? This guy that the 3 godesses referred to as Sage kept giving them bad advice but they followed it anyway - very much like the bad advice given by Loki. This sage always used the same phrase all the time - sounded like Naraya or something similar. Is that just a phrase like ‘oh my goodness’ or is it a form of address?
Though I really liked the almost parody of bollywood in the movie Bollywood/Hollywood. The description of a pre wedding event of singing and dancing as being in a small elevator with a circus was fantastic=)
I haven’t seen Jai Santoshi Maa, but I would guess that the Sage was mentioning Narayana - another name for Visnu/Krsna (the name can be used as a mantra as well, thus being simply an “empty” formula). Hinduism doesn’t really have a trickster figure such as Loke, but there are several stories where Krsna plays small pranks on others. My guess, though, is that the Sage’s behaviour has little to do with Hinduism as such. He probably functions as a plot device, possibly “teaching” the protagonist(s?) a moral lesson - by being the Sage he would have the authority needed for others to follow his advise.
Panurge said it. I will only add that Krishna’s “tricks” were never harmful, not like Loki’s can be. They were playful, and mischievous.
Thanks=)
Now I am trying to work through a film noirish bollywood ghost story from like the 40s or so … it sucks that it ins tin english so I have to actually see the dialog, and I just know some things are not translated exactly right with idiomatic differences=)
Kya yaar. Humne to socha tha tum desi hi ho. (If it’s any comfort, I always thought you were Indian.)