Maa

Maa had the potential to be a genre-bending experience, but it stumbles despite Kajol's stellar performance. She brings depth and emotional gravitas, making you feel every ounce of a mother's fear and desperation. Unfortunately, the film's uniqueness is undercut by its painfully predictable plot and reliance on tired horror tropes. The jump scares are formulaic, and the visual effects barely meet the mark. Worst of all, the villain looks like a budget Vecna knockoff from Stranger Things, more laughable than terrifying. Maa tries to be profound, but ends up being a stylishly packaged, hollow echo of better horror films.

Coming back to Hindi horror years after Stree felt like returning to an old haunt, quite literally.

Maa follows on from Shaitaan with a modern take on the Kali-Raktbeej mythology, and whilst I completely missed the Shaitaan connection (having not watched it), the film works perfectly well on its own.

Kajol is absolutely brilliant as a mother battling supernatural forces, bringing proper intensity to folk horror for the first time in her career. She's utterly convincing in the desperation and fury, never overselling the scares. Ronit Roy provides sterling support as her husband, grounding the family dynamics effectively. The child actors hold their own without being irritating, which is rather rare in Bollywood horror.

The mythology feels authentic rather than cobbled together, which folk horror desperately needs. The climax works well, and the performances are strong throughout.

However, the film squanders its potential rather badly. The story is predictable, the execution is safe and rather dull. The writing is somewhat lazy, sometimes overly stretching the mytho, and there's an awful plot twist at the end that makes absolutely no sense.

The VFX look cheap and unconvincing... disappointing considering the budget puts this in the same range as Hollywood horror films like Speak No Evil or The Nun II, which manage far more convincing effects.

Maa works best when it focuses on maternal desperation instead of mythological lectures. It's decent horror elevated by Kajol's commitment, but it should have been considerably braver.

Rating: 7/10 (Proper maternal horror that could've been genuinely frightening with better writing)

Vishal Furia's "Maa," starring Kajol in her first full-fledged horror outing, attempts to blend mythological horror with a potent tale of a mother's fierce love. While the premise is intriguing, and Kajol delivers a spirited performance, the film struggles to maintain a consistent tone and often falls prey to genre cliches, leaving it more muddled than truly terrifying.

The film's ambition often outweighs its execution. The narrative, while rooted in compelling mythology, becomes predictable. The demon, despite ample screentime, fails to evoke genuine terror, often resembling more of a mid-budget CGI creation than a truly menacing entity. The writing is a significant weakness; despite tackling powerful themes of patriarchy and female strength, the script feels bland and repetitive in parts, losing its grip, particularly in the muddled second half and climax extremely disappointing. Better to watch on ott rather than going theatres.

The film's connection to the "Shaitaan" universe is present but doesn't necessarily elevate "Maa" in a significant way. While it aims for a compelling horror experience with a beating heart of maternal love, the inconsistent pacing, reliance on conventional horror tropes, and a surprisingly weak emotional core prevent "Maa" from reaching its full potential.

Honestly Kajol should retire, she is destroying her legacy. Surely she would've read the script and must've thought what is this no scares all about promoting a cult and not concentrating on the film itself. The movie is all about a religious promotion and the story has so many holes in it. The ghost is a tree yes a tree the director must be drunk when he came up with this concept. The movie is an absolute disgrace and seriously one of the worst films I have ever seen if it had minus then I would give it a minus 10. People actually walked out i Should've done so the film is all to do with promoting kajols beliefs which am sorry lost the film.

I recently watched Maa, expecting a touching story about motherhood, emotions, and sacrifice. What I got instead was a confused, melodramatic mess that felt more like a punishment than a film.

From the very first scene, the film struggles to find direction. It tries to be emotional, but ends up being over-the-top, unrealistic, and painfully stretched. What should have been a heartfelt tribute to mothers turns into a shallow and forced tear-jerker.

Storyline - Overdone and Underwritten

The plot is simple but handled poorly. A mother goes through challenges for her child - something we've seen in countless movies.

Instead of offering a fresh take or deeper meaning, the movie uses every emotional cliché in the book.

Characters cry, shout, sacrifice, and suffer - but none of it feels genuine.

There's no depth or connection. The story keeps jumping from one dramatic scene to another with zero build-up.

Acting - Too Much or Too Little

The lead actress clearly tries hard, but most of her performance ends up looking exaggerated.

Supporting actors either overact or feel like they're sleepwalking through their scenes.

Emotional moments don't land because the reactions are either too loud or too fake.

A good emotional film depends on subtlety, but here everything is so loud and dramatic, you feel drained rather than moved.

Direction - Lost and Lazy

The director doesn't seem to trust the audience. Every emotion is spoon-fed.

The camera lingers too long on crying faces, dramatic music plays every 2 minutes, and every situation is pushed to the extreme.

Instead of telling the story naturally, the movie feels like a forced collection of "emotional scenes" stitched together without purpose.

Music - Manipulative, Not Meaningful

Background music is loud, repetitive, and used like a hammer to force emotion out of you.

Instead of enhancing scenes, the music distracts and irritates. Every sad scene is followed by the same type of violin or slow tune.

Editing and Pacing - A Drag

The film feels much longer than it is. There are too many unnecessary scenes and dialogues.

Some scenes could've been 10 seconds but are stretched to 2 minutes just to "look emotional."

By the second half, I was checking the time and hoping it would end soon.

Overall Experience - Emotionally Exhausting for the Wrong Reasons

Maa had potential. A movie about mothers always has room for deep storytelling, soft moments, and inspiring character growth.

But this film chose the loudest, messiest, and most unrealistic path possible.

It's not moving. It's not heartwarming. It's just tiring.