Satyavati's relationship to Santoshi Ma, established through the parallel story of the goddesses, suggests that there is more agency involved here than at first appears to be the case—though it is the diffused, depersonalised agency favoured in Hindu narrative (as in Santoshi Ma's own birth story). Satyavati's successful integration into Birju's family, indeed her emergence as its most prosperous female member, parallels Santoshi Ma's acceptance in her divine clan and revelation as its most potent shakti. Santoshi Ma's rise as a goddess happens without the intervention, so common in Indian cinema, of a male hero.