Maa

During Kali Puja at a secluded ancestral mansion in Chandrapur, Ambika, Kajol, brings twins into the world—a boy and a girl. The rite is conducted by a woman priestess who claims Kali spoke to her in a dream, lending an eerie gravity to the proceedings. Joydev, Ronit Roy, a local figure of authority who grows up alongside the ritual, watches with his friends and notes that the son of the sarpanch should be the one to lead the puja. The second newborn is announced to be a girl, and a tense moment follows as the father, the scion of the zamindar family, seizes the infant from the new mother to take her for a sacrificial rite. The priestess advances the sword toward the baby, but Kali’s demand is clear—the goddess cannot ask for a baby girl’s sacrifice. In a shocking turn, Joydev snatches the sword from the priestess, asserts it as his right, and sacrifices the girl himself, sinking the ceremony into a silence heavy with unspoken fear.

Forty years pass, and Ambika lives in Kolkata with her husband Shuvankar, Indraneil Sengupta, and their twelve-year-old daughter Shweta, a life that feels outwardly content yet is haunted by a hidden family truth. Shuvankar is the same son who had the female twin long ago, a fact that has always hovered between concealment and revelation. He wrestles with the dilemma of when—or if—to tell his daughter the truth about her lineage and the shadow that still lingers over their family estate. The family’s quiet existence is disrupted when Joydev, now an older man and still a central village figure, sends word that his father has died. The news pulls Shuvankar toward Chandrapur to oversee the cremation and the sale of the ancestral property, a plan Ambika initially opposes but gradually considers to secure their future.

On the return journey, Shuvankar dies in a mysterious fire—an accident that seems to be caused by a splinter from the roots of the same haunted tree behind the palatial house, a tree tied to the earlier tragedy. The splinter lodges in his shoe, and as the flames engulf the vehicle, Ambika and Shweta travel to Chandrapur to complete the sale and confront the living memory of the past. In Chandrapur, Shweta befriends Deepika, the caretaker’s daughter, and the two begin to explore the area around the haunted tree, despite warnings that a demon—or daitya—might dwell there. When Shweta insists on visiting the tree, Ambika intervenes, only to learn that Deepika has just had her first period, a detail that coincides with rumors of the daitya’s influence drawing girls away and returning them unharmed.

The disappearances grow more alarming as several village girls vanish after their first menstruation, then return without their cycles, prompting Ambika to dig deeper. A seasoned police officer, Sarfaraz, becomes involved, convinced that the rumors of a demon mask a more human series of machinations. The investigation bears fruit when a manuscript—belonging to Shuvankar’s father’s generation—lands in Ambika’s hands through the old caretaker and caretaker’s son. Reading it, she uncovers a centuries-old curse centered on a blood daitya named Aamsaja, a being tied to the Kali Puja rite and the haunted tree. The demon is revealed to be after Shweta, aiming to procreate through her, and Ambika must act to shield her daughter and the other missing girls.

As the truth comes to light, Joydev’s role becomes horrifyingly clear: he is the human face of the daemon Amsaja, the malevolent force behind the century-old curse. Ambika, now confronted with a choice steeped in ritual and survival, experiences a prophetic dream of Goddess Kali. Guided by that vision, she resolves to perform Kali Puja in the family temple, a temple that unlocks only when a village dream connects with the goddess. With the demon’s influence growing ever stronger inside Joydev, Ambika undergoes a dramatic transformation, channeling Kali’s wrath and becoming a fierce matriarchal protector who fights to save Shweta and the abducted girls.

The battle culminates in a tense confrontation where the demon is driven back, and the immediate danger to Shweta is averted. Yet a grim twist remains: an ancient priestess reveals that Shweta carries the demon’s potential birth, and thus a sacrifice would be required to stop it. Ambika faces the unbearable choice, preparing to sacrifice her own daughter for the greater good. Just as she braces for the ritual, the priestess intervenes, declaring that Goddess Kali has tested her and that the threat within Shweta is no more. The revelation marks a fragile victory, a moment of relief that comes with the acknowledgment of a long, painful history finally addressed.

In the final moments, the story lingers on the aftermath of the ordeal. The forest around Chandrapur bears the scars of the ordeal, and a post-credits scene shows Vanraj, wearing a hoodie and boots, walking through the ashy remains of the once-haunted land, seemingly absorbing what remained of Amsaja’s powers. The film closes on a note of unresolved tension, a reminder that the legacy of blood and ritual can echo through generations, reshaping lives and testing the limits of family loyalty, faith, and courage.

Last Updated: October 07, 2025 at 08:16