Maa, starring Kajol, is about a brave mother who tries to protect her daughter from an old curse in a village. While Kajol gives a powerful performance, the film itself feels confusing and messy.
Set in a village called Chandarpur in Bengal, the story is based on a mysterious forest where young girls go missing after reaching puberty. They come back with no memory of what happened. The movie mixes horror, mythology, and emotional drama but fails to focus clearly on any one direction.
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The story begins 40 years ago on Kali Puja night, when twins—a boy and a girl—are born into a wealthy family. The boy is celebrated, but the girl is killed under a giant banyan tree. This act leads to a curse that haunts all the girls in the village when they reach puberty. A demon-like creature, linked to the same tree, starts troubling them.
The boy, Shuvankar (played by Indraneil Sengupta), grows up and moves away, hiding his family’s dark past from his daughter, Shweta (Kherin Sharma). When Shuvankar returns to the village after his father’s death, he plans to sell their old mansion but dies before he can do so. The village leader, Joydev (Ronit Roy), asks Ambika (Kajol), Shuvankar’s wife, to come and complete the sale.
Ambika and her daughter visit the village and soon start experiencing strange and scary events. The mansion is spooky, with old, dark rooms, and a locked Kali temple that hasn’t been opened for 40 years. Only someone who sees a vision of the goddess Kali can reopen it and perform the puja.
Ambika and Shweta are welcomed by the caretaker Bikash (Gopal Singh) and his daughter Dipika (Roopkatha Chakraborty). However, Bikash’s wife Nandini (Surjyasikha Das) is cold towards them, and her behavior hints at hidden secrets.
The film tries to use religion and mythology to tell a story about female strength. However, instead of staying scary or deep, it often becomes confusing and over-the-top. While it doesn’t try to make jokes like many recent horror films, it still ends up being unintentionally silly at times.
The visuals and special effects are strong, with creepy lighting, haunted interiors, and scary figures lurking in the background. But as the story moves from realistic horror to a fight between divine and evil forces, it loses its grip.
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Kajol’s acting is the highlight of the film, and Ronit Roy also performs well. The younger actresses, Kherin Sharma and Roopkatha Chakraborty, do a good job too. Unfortunately, the movie doesn’t stay consistent, and the story feels scattered.
Maa tries to be a female-led mythological horror story but ends up being too chaotic. It’s more enjoyable for fans of Kajol than for horror lovers looking for a solid, scary film.
