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

Whereas the actor has spent over three many years taking part in every thing from the woman each boy wished 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 — suppose 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 fireplace 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 true that means of power, watch a mom combat for her baby. In the complete universe, there isn’t any stronger god than a mom.” Maybe that is the road that impressed this spinoff. However though Kajol is stable because the divine female (whose identify, Ambika, is one other identify 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 could be very a lot in Furia’s wheelhouse (his earlier credit embody Chhorii and its sequel), it represents a departure for Quadras, identified for such biopics as Neerja and Mary Kom. Right here, Quadras provides 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 enchanting spiritual fable into modern-day horror sounds intriguing on paper. However it proves not a lot in execution.

Horror movies will not be 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 motion pictures 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 tougher to make peace right here with are the shortage 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 turning 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 truth, 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 motion pictures. 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 sluggish 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, try Anvitaa Dutt’s Bulbbul.) Maa additionally has echoes of Rosemary’s Child, with feminist undercurrents that may remind you of the Stree franchise, and frames within the climax that intently resemble moments from Shaitaan. And though Furia put sugarcane fields to nice use in Chorii, right here, the forest is simply too pretend to evoke concern.

There are a couple of enjoyable soar scares — however little that chills or thrills.

Full credit

Distributor: Phars
Manufacturing firms: Ajay Devgn Movies, Jio Studios
Solid: Kajol, Ronit Roy, Indraneil Sengupta
Director: Vishal Furia
Screenwriter: Saiwyn Quadras
Producers: Ajay Devgn, Jyoti Deshpande
Govt producers: Ashish Kathpal
Director of pictures: Pushkar Singh
Manufacturing designer: Sheetal Duggal
Costume designer: Radhika Mehra
Editor: Sandeep Francis
Music: Harsh Upadhyay, Rocky Khanna, Shiv Malhotra
In Hindi

2 hours quarter-hour