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Maa (2025 film)
2025 Indian film by Vishal Furia From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Maa (transl. Mother) is a 2025 Indian Hindi-language mythological horror film directed by Vishal Furia. The film stars Kajol in the title role, alongside Ronit Roy, Indraneil Sengupta, and Kherin Sharma.[3] It is a spinoff to the 2024 film Shaitaan, being set in the same universe.[4] After her husband dies due to a supernatural cause, a mother and her daughter visit his hometown, only to discover a demonic curse that puts their lives at risk.[5]
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Maa was released theatrically on 27 June 2025.[6] It received mixed reviews from critics who widely praised Kajol’s performance but had some criticism for the script.[3]
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Plot
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Ambika (Kajol), her husband Shubankar (Indraneil Sengupta), and their 12-year-old daughter Shweta (Kherin Sharma) live a content life in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. Following the death of Shubankar’s father, he travels to Chandrapur, his ancestral village, to manage the family estate.[7]
Shortly after his arrival, Shubankar dies under mysterious and seemingly supernatural circumstances, caused by a splinter from the roots of a tree near their ancestral house, which embeds in his shoe.[8][9] Grief-stricken, Ambika and Shweta return to Chandrapur to finalize the sale of the property. However, the mysterious disappearance of several young village girls shortly after their first menstruation cycle, including Shweta, forces Ambika to remain and investigate.[10][11]
Ambika discovers that the village is haunted by an ancient curse tied to a blood daitya named Aamsaja. The legend involves human sacrifices, the Kali Puja ritual, and a haunted tree believed to hold malevolent supernatural power.[11][7] As the demon's (Ronit Roy) influence grows, Ambika channels the divine wrath of the goddess Kali, undergoing a spiritual transformation into a fierce matriarchal protector. She confronts the evil force in a final effort to save Shweta and the other missing girls.[12] During the mid-credits scene, Vanraj, wearing his hoodie, baggy pants, and boots, is seen walking through the ashy remains of the forest, seemingly absorbing whatever was left of Amshaja’s powers.
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Cast
- Kajol as Ambika
- Ronit Roy as Joydev
- Naveen Sandhu as Young Joydev
- Indraneil Sengupta as Shuvankar
- Kherin Sharma as Shweta, Ambika's daughter
- Jitin Gulati as Sarfaraz
- Jitendra Kumar as Satya
- Gopal Singh as Bikash
- Surjasikha Das as Nandini
- Aashit Chatterjee as Jagdish
- Dibyendu Bhattacharya as Bimal
- Roopkatha Chakraborty as Deepika
- Aayushi Lahiri as Shuvankar's mother
- Faisal Malik as Bhugwa
- Yaaneea Bharadwaj as Young Priestess
- Vibha Rani as Old Priestess
- Nazneen Madan as Reeti
- Ajitabh Sengupta as Broker
- Aaradhya Tiwari as Possessed Girl
- R. Madhavan as Shaitaan (Cameo appearance)
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Production
Principal photography began in January 2024 in Kolkata.[13][14] Filming was completed in May 2025 due to the addition of extra action scenes involving Kajol.[15][16]
The film was officially announced in March 2025 as an expansion of the Shaitaan universe with a motion poster.[17]
Music
The soundtrack is composed by Harsh Upadhyay, Rocky Khanna and Shiv Malhotra, with lyrics written by Pranav Vatsa and Manoj Muntashir.
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Release
Maa was released in theatres worldwide on 27 June 2025.[18]
Home media
Maa will be released on Netflix on 22 August 2025.[19]
Reception
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Box office
As of 25 July 2025, Maa has grossed ₹45.19 crore in India and ₹6.45 crore in overseas, for a worldwide total of ₹51.64 crore. [2]
Critical response
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 15% of 13 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 5.2/10.[20]
Filme Shilmy gave Maa 4 stars out of 5, calling the film “rich and immersive” and for “challenging what horror can be”. They also praised the performances, specifically Kajol and Ronit Roy, while criticising the pacing and emotional background in the first half.[21]
Bollywood Hungama gave the film 3 stars out of 5, praising the performances while criticising the visual effects, writing and the climax.[22] Sana Farzeen from India Today gave the film 2.5 stars out of 5, praising the visual effects and mythology while feeling the plot was predictable and lacked depth.[23] Shubhra Gupta from Indian Express gave the film 2 stars out of 5, finding the writing bland and the visual effects "nothing new."[24] Saibal Chatterjee from NDTV also gave the film 2 stars out of 5, labelling it a "confused concoction" and "way too unhinged to be earth-shatteringly terrifying."[25]
Rahul Desai from The Hollywood Reporter India felt the villain looked like Groot from Guardians of the Galaxy, and found the film uncomfortable to watch due to its usage of horror to "legitimise the fictions of mythology."[26] Rishabh Suri of Hindustan Times gave 2.5 stars out of 5 and said that "Kajol's film has all the right ingredients. But the makers throw all of it into a cauldron and forget to turn the heat up."[27] Nishad Thaivalappil of News 18 rated 3/5 stars and writes that "As much as the film has tried to show Bengali culture and traditions, it also feels like it’s again bringing to light the kind of mumbo jumbo that’s always been doing the rounds."[28]
Anuj Kumar of The Hindu commented that "Low on chills and thrills, director Vishal Furia’s ‘Chhorii’ template pays diminishing returns in Bengal."[29] Devesh Sharma of Filmfare gave 2.5 stars out of 5 and said that "It falls to Kajol to hold the film together and she does a great job of it. Watch it solely for her performance. She’s given her hundred percent to the project and then some. But even her superlative acting can’t cover up the cracks of a badly written screenplay."[30] Subhash K Jha of News 24 gave 2 stars and writes in his review that "Maa seems like a cry in the dark. It desperately wants to reach out. But has no clue how to do so beyond pandering to predictability. All the tropes and terror tactics are religiously, pun intended, followed. But there is no sense of the unexpected here. It all seems overplanned, over-rehearsed and altogether underwhelming."[31]
Nandini Ramnath of Scroll.in observed that "Maa is a poor showcase of Furia’s feel for the genre. The film neither creates emotional engagement with its characters nor has the technical polish to be a convincing scare-fest. Except for a few scenes, there is a lack of atmospherics needed to carry off a tale of demonic possession."[32] Ganesh Aaglave of Firstpost rated 3.5/5 stars and said that "On the whole, Maa is a gripping mythological horror, which will keep you glued to the big screen."[33] Mayur Sanap of Rediff.com rated 2.5/5 stars and commented that "What keeps the momentum going is Kajol’s fully committed performance that elevates this generic material to a surprising degree of watchability, and without any clear direction to move ahead, this so-called Devil's Universe definitely feels wonky right now."[34]
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References
External links
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