‘Maa’ Movie Review: The purpose of horror films is to scare the audience. The idea of ’Maa’ sounds amazing – a mother who saves her daughter from evil forces, that too with a mythological background. But alas, as good as it looked on paper, it turned out to be equally dull on screen. Forget about fear, even emotions are nowhere to be seen.
Story: The cursed mystery of Chandrapur in West Bengal
The story of the film begins in a village named Chandrapur in West Bengal, where a newborn girl is sacrificed. 40 years later, the story revolves around Shubhankar (Indranil Sen Gupta), his wife Ambika (Kajol) and their 12-year-old daughter Shweta (Kherin Sharma). Shubhankar comes to the village after getting the news of his father’s death and on his way back, a demonic force kills him.
Three months later, the village head Jaydev (Ronit Bose Roy) calls Ambika to sell her ancestral mansion. Ambika goes there with her daughter and learns that the mansion is cursed. There is a ruin behind the mansion, where it is forbidden to go near a tree, because a demon lives there. This demon abducts girls who get their first period.
Shweta goes to the same place with Deepika (Rupakatha Chakraborty), the daughter of the mansion’s maid. Deepika is then abducted by the demon. Ambika goes in search of Deepika with the police and witnesses many strange things during this time. Deepika returns, but the girls now possessed by the demon try to take Shweta away. Why does the demon want to take Shweta with him? Will Ambika be able to save her daughter? The film seeks answers to this question.
A lifeless mix of mythology
This story and screenplay written by Saiwyan Ridna Quadras is inspired by the mythological tale of Goddess Kali and Raktbeej. It is said that in the war between gods and demons, if even a drop of Raktbeej’s blood fell on the earth, countless demons were born. One drop of this also falls in Chandrapur village, which keeps scaring the village for decades. This idea of getting rid of the demon is brilliant, but the film fails to show the fear and mystery deeply.
Weak direction by Vishal Furia
Vishal Furia, who has directed horror films like ‘Chhori’ and ‘Chhori 2’, has also talked about saving girls in ‘Maa’, but he could not make the journey of Ambika standing up to the demon’s ambitions effective. It takes a lot of time to set up the story before the interval. The main part of the film is the demon, whose presence should have scared people, but looking at him it seems as if he is a ghost from a TV serial. His strength and actions do not give a feeling of horror at all. The VFX of the film is also very weak and here also only the old method of sound has been used to create horror.
The events of the film do not surprise and the dialogues are also not special. However, the concept of a helpless mother becoming Kali Maa is shown well in the climax. This is probably the only part of the film where you feel a little tied. But there are some questions in the film whose answers you will not get, like: How does an old woman save Shweta from the girls possessed by the demon? Why does the old servant Bimal (Dibyendu Bhattacharya) start speaking after seeing Ambika? Why does strange things not bother Ambika? If going near the ruins is prohibited, then how does Deepika know that there is a tree there?
Kajol’s one-dimensional acting
The entire burden of the film rests on Kajol’s shoulders, but her acting seems monotonous. Her character doesn’t seem out of the ordinary anywhere. Her chemistry with her on-screen daughter Kherin is also not that emotional. Ronit Roy gets a chance to do something new here and he has done well in it.
Overall, ‘Maa’ has all the ingredients required for a horror film, but their mixture is mismatched, due to which the story does not become palatable. If you are expecting to watch a good horror film, then this film may disappoint you.