Kajol Stars in Mythological Horror Movie

The largest pleasure in Maa (Mom) is watching Kajol kick ass.

Whereas the actor has spent over three a long time enjoying every part from the woman each boy needed to take house to mom (as Simran in Diwale Dulhania Le Jayenge) to a straight-up unhinged villain (as Isha in Gupt), we’ve hardly ever seen her in motion mode.

Right here, she turns into the savior mother — assume Liam Neeson in Taken, besides that since Maa is billed as mythological horror, the saving is finished in a creepy hamlet close to Kolkata, India, referred to as Chandanpur. When a demon referred to as Doito comes after her 12-year-old daughter Shweta (Kherin Sharma), Kajol’s Ambika transforms into hearth and brimstone.

Maa is the second entry within the shared universe that started with 2024’s Shaitaan, on the finish of which Kabir (Ajay Devgn, a producer on Maa) feedback, “If you wish to perceive the actual that means of energy, watch a mom battle for her youngster. In all the universe, there is no such thing as a stronger god than a mom.” Maybe that is the road that impressed this spinoff. However though Kajol is stable because the divine female (whose title, Ambika, is one other title for the goddess Durga), I simply want the movie had extra of her fury.

The film is directed by Vishal Furia and written by Saiwyn Quadras, and whereas horror may be very a lot in Furia’s wheelhouse (his earlier credit embrace Chhorii and its sequel), it represents a departure for Quadras, recognized for such biopics as Neerja and Mary Kom. Right here, Quadras gives a spin on the story of Kali Maa and Raktbeej, the highly effective demon who can replicate himself from each drop of his blood that spills on the bottom. The concept of transforming such an interesting non secular fable into modern-day horror sounds intriguing on paper. Nevertheless it proves not a lot in execution.

Horror movies usually are not about logic, so we will’t ask questions like why Ambika takes Shweta to Chandanpur when she is aware of its harmful historical past, or why she stays there regardless of all of the unusual issues occurring. Characters in these films by no means appear to depart the haunted place when they need to. However we droop disbelief and settle for it as a part of the deal. What’s more durable to make peace right here with are the dearth of scares and the sluggish tempo.

Shaitaan was anchored by a stable storyline, with a stranger coming house and taking possession of a younger woman. It additionally featured a scrumptious efficiency by R. Madhavan because the titular satan, his perverse enjoyment of torturing the woman and her dad and mom changing into its personal leisure.

The gaping gap in Maa is the feeble antagonist. Regardless of the VFX and the background rating, Doito doesn’t have an inch of menace about him. In reality, I saved pondering this tree-like creature, with snaking branches that he places to murderous use, was principally an overgrown and indignant model of Groot from the Guardians of the Galaxy films. There’s little or no persona right here, and he’s saddled with forgettable dialogue, as in a scene when he tells a person, “Your coronary heart is black. You may be helpful to me.”

The story is each gradual and convoluted — there’s human sacrifice, Kali Puja, a Rajbari (mansion) with 30 rooms. (By the way, if you wish to see a much better use of massive Bengali mansions in a horror movie, take a look at Anvitaa Dutt’s Bulbbul.) Maa additionally has echoes of Rosemary’s Child, with feminist undercurrents which may remind you of the Stree franchise, and frames within the climax that carefully resemble moments from Shaitaan. And though Furia put sugarcane fields to nice use in Chorii, right here, the forest is simply too faux to evoke worry.

There are a number of enjoyable leap scares — however little that chills or thrills.