Maara

Parvathy, a restoration architect, travels to a small coastal village in Kerala for a project. She is there to avoid an arranged marriage back home. She starts noticing a fairy-tale-like atmosphere painted across the village, which draws her curiosity toward its enigmatic painter, Maara.

Paaru rents a cluttered house filled with art and artefacts. In the room, she finds Maara’s photo and a sketchbook that hints at a larger story. The sketches depict a New Year’s Eve plan to rob Maara and a woman about to shoot herself, leaving the tale unfinished and deeply intriguing.

Intrigued, Paaru begins visiting the people in Maara’s sketches to piece together his life. She talks to an antique dealer Usman bhai and a thief named Chokku, learning about the connections that bind Maara to Selvi and others. The more she digs, the more the mystery of Maara’s compassion and past unfolds.

The clues reveal Selvi, a prostitute Maara knew who was taken out to sea with Chokku to mark her birthday. Selvi’s life in the wake of that night ends with her suicide, and Maara ensures her daughter Rani is enrolled in a school. Paaru learns how Maara’s acts ripple through people’s lives.

Paaru receives news that Rani has gone missing from her school and traces her to her father’s lodge. Maara, who has returned to the village, locates Rani there and rescues her from her abuser. The incident reveals Maara’s protective side and deepening involvement in the village’s turmoil.

In the course of her pursuit, Paaru catches a glimpse of Maara but fails to meet him in person. The brush with his presence deepens the sense that the fairy-tale figure has a real, tangible life. She remains determined to uncover more of his story.

Paaru finally meets the thief from the sketches, who explains that Maara stopped a woman from shooting herself and followed her as she fled. They locate the house and identify the woman as Doctor Kani. The revelation links Maara’s legend to a concrete, human rescue on New Year’s Eve.

Kani recounts how a misstep in her first independent operation led to the death of a child, triggering media slander and despair. Maara prevents her from taking a dangerous step on New Year’s Eve and brings her to his mountain village, where she has lived since. Vellaiya, her guardian figure, maintains a picturesque, romantic refuge there.

Vellaiya shows Paaru a photo of Meenakshi and explains his own lifelong search for her. He wears a conch pendant that ties his history to a larger fairy-tale world. He shares how he has acted out a play to convey his love, a ritual that mirrors the legends Paaru has been chasing.

Paaru notices that Meenakshi wears the same conch pendant as her Aunt Mary, a nurse at a convent. This coincidence threads the story back to Aunt Mary and the childhood fairy tale of an immortal soldier seeking a mystical fish. The convergence of these clues positions Maara’s legend as a shared family memory.

Paaru brings Aunt Mary to the mountain village on Vellaiya’s birthday, triggering a realization that the plot of Vellaiya’s play echoes the fairy tale Paaru heard as a child. The reunion ties together the personal histories that Maara has woven through generations. The revelation deepens Paaru’s understanding of the village’s lore.

In a culminating moment, Paaru and Maara reveal their identities to each other, confirming the man behind the myth. They hold hands as the sun sets, symbolizing the completion of the fairy tale and the beginning of a new bond. The film closes on a hopeful note, with the story completing its full circle.