Maa Review: Kajol Fights Demons and Ghastly CGI

Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)

Kajol playing a fierce, protective ‘Maa’ in a legend haunted, folklore horror movie? Sounds pretty great on paper. And the film opens with a beautiful, colorful celebration of Kaali puja by masked dancers in a mansion. Then begins the problem: despite being visually rich in regular sequences, the scenes with supernatural effects and demons are sub-par.

Directed by Vishal Furia, ‘Maa’ stars Kajol as protagonist Ambika, a mother forced to fight an ancient demon to protect her daughter Shweta (Kherin Sharma) from a generational curse. Much like Furia’s horror film ‘Chhorii’, this story also deals with the theme of female infanticide, although in this tale, babies are killed as ritualistic sacrifices to vanquish an ancient evil.

‘Maa’ is centered on a folk legend about a demon lurking in the dense forests of Chandrapur, a fictional village. Ambika is married to Shuvankar (Indraneil Sengupta), whose family has long been cursed, but the couple choose to distance themselves from the village and its superstitions. Fate, however, pulls Ambika back to Shuvankar’s ancestral mansion under tragic circumstances, where her daughter Shweta becomes the demon’s next target. Ronit Roy plays village chief Joydev, who helps Ambika navigate Chandrapur and its challenges.

For a horror film, ‘Maa’ has several strong elements: an intriguing folk legend, the atmospheric setting of a grand mansion, and a talented cast. Kajol delivers a layered performance as an empathetic mother who transforms into a Goddess-like warrior to save her daughter from evil. Unfortunately, the demon’s special effects are atrocious, more laughable than terrifying. It might have worked in a horror-comedy like Munjya or Stree, but not here.

And for no good reason, a village crone branded a “witch” by the locals is buried under layers of terrible makeup. Sadly, the rest of the possessed characters aren’t any better, just caked in bad cosmetics that scream cheap, not creepy. Within the first hour of ‘Maa’, the pace begins to feel overbearing, especially because it’s not scary at all. Towards the climax, the film was simply a predictable, visually jarring mess.

If you still haven’t seen ‘Tumbbad’ or ‘Kumari’, both folktale horror movies, I’d recommend you watch them instead of Maa.

Rating: 4 on 10. ‘Maa’ is available on Netflix.

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