As suggested by its promotional videos, director Vishal Furia’s Maa would be an extension of the Shaitaan universe. In Shaitaan, the antagonist employs voodoo and black magic to hypnotise girls and use them to gain ultimate power. Ajay Devgn’s character plays the saviour, rescuing his daughter and other young girls who had become the Shaitaan’s victims. Maa, which follows a plotline that revolves around a religious superstition, finds Ambika (portrayed by Devgn’s wife Kajol) taking on that responsibility on her shoulders, when her daughter and several others of her age are abducted by a demonic spirit. Maa’s story also bears resemblance to 2024’s hit horror film Munjya. As in Munjya, Ambika’s visit to her in-laws’ ancient mansion in their native village unleashes a well-kept, dark secret about a malevolent demon who dwells in the forest and haunts the villagers.
To this is added the story of another ancient family tradition in which newborn girl babies must be sacrificed at the altar of Goddess Kali. The twin plot thus revolves around how Ambika, who has been recently widowed, rescues her daughter Shweta from the clutches of the demon and also frees the villagers from its curse forever. Armed with a clear storyline, though far from being original and even somewhat contrived, Maa gets off to a quick start by assembling all the ingredients necessary to generate horror. Though full of eerie moments that will instil dread in your heart but also intrigue you, its visual representation is also strangely targeted to revive your childhood fear of ghosts and evil spirits.
Fresh from his success of the two seasons of the Chhorii series, Furia is someone who has proven his competence in this genre of filmmaking. With its high-tech photography, 3D animation and other special effects, Maa appears to be skilfully made and is clearly meant for a big-screen experience. Nevertheless, as mentioned already, it fails to impress visually, although the audience is provided with more than a fair share of what are intended to be spine-chilling moments. The horror element is also attempted to be enhanced through its music and sound effects. The background score supports the visuals and is moderately effective in creating an ambience of terror. Though the film’s music heightens its fear factor and evokes a sense of impending danger, the too-frequent use of screeching and creaking noises or the wails of invisible babies in the dark forest seem forced and amateurish.
All this should have been fairly pardonable, since Maa mainly appeals to the audience with its story and with its concept of motherhood and the extraordinary powers it supposedly comes endowed with. Unfortunately though, the film is flawed from that aspect as well. Though Kajol is portrayed as an intelligent, educated woman, she clearly believes in and is scared by her husband’s family’s past. The fact that she (and before that, her husband) actually gets involved in a supernatural, even bizarre experience where she engages in one-on-one combat with a forest demon (spoiler!) sets a dangerous, regressive precedent, even for a horror film. In her defence, it can be said that she is the very embodiment of woman power, determination and courage. As Ambika, she symbolises the truth that if one’s intentions are honest, they can defeat the forces of evil and restore peace and order no matter how heavily the odds are stacked against them.
We only wish that the makers had tried to convey this message by factoring in the more serious and psychological aspects of horror instead of depending on a somewhat childish, video-game styled representation. And while we’re at it, we also wish that Bollywood would stop depicting unrealistic and melodramatic representations of Bengali religious rituals in its films.