MAYA (2015)

MAYA  (2015)

Director: Ashwin Saravanan

Casts: Nayanthara, Aari, Robo Shankar
Music: Ron Ethaan Yohaan
Language: Tamil
Genre: Horror

In a time where the culture of commercial Horror films have taken a comedy sub route in Indian cinema, ‘Maya’ was promoted as a efficient, pure horror which will not only play homage to the classic horror genre but also promised to take the audience to a fear ride. With debutant Ashwin Saravanan leading the team, will ‘Maya’ fulfil its expectations?

Synopsis

Apsara (Nayanthara) is budding actress and she gets separated from her husband Arjun (Aari) prioritising his film career over her and their one-year old child, Meera. At one point of time, a moneylender threatens Apsara and she has no choice and decides to participate in a contest to watch a horror movie called, ‘Irul’. The condition is to watch the horror movie alone in the cinema hall with their heart rate and image being monitored. If there is a declination in pulse rate or blood pressure, they will not get the announced prize money of 5 lakhs. Will ‘Maya’ prevail the risky, horrific test?

Story – Screenplay

‘Maya’ utilizes the hyperlink cinematic format (parallel stories interweaved) and that raises the tension of the film effectively together with the classic horror moments. The scares are not something we have not seen before but still do its job to make us jump out from our seats. That’s the real speciality of this flick.

The film’s graph of storytelling never decreases and as each scene progresses with a cliffhanger, pushing a clear direction for the next. The film doesn’t bombard you with cheap scare or flashy ghost images, instead the atmosphere director have created drives the scare. The juxtapositions of the dysfunctional relationships appearing in both the stories and the horror myth thread of ‘Maya’ spirit deliver a subliminal message about marriage as well. Ashwin has brilliantly threaded the message so invisibly yet effectively.

However, the film’s third act in the forest drag too long than expected which might hinder the interest graph of the audience. Other than that, ‘Maya’ has a simple yet a solid emotional story.

Casting & Performance

Nayathanra who drives the entire plot has done what the script warrants her to do. As ‘Apsara’ she appears grim and sad most of the time and one might wonder whether her character traits have limited her acting scope. However her choice to play a unconventional, de-glam role is certainly commendable.

Aari as Vasanth is a perfect apt for the role and the actor seems to be improving in every films. Especially in emotional scenes, he excels greatly.  The film also has a group of new comers and budding actors who have done well too.

Ashwin has moulded each of them to be real actors and extracted the talents of the bunch of talented or underrated actors in this film.

Technicality

Maya runs high in the technical quotient. A significant factor which makes the difference from ordinary horror film to an extraordinary one.

The sound mixing and editing is the best factor of the film. Like I have mentioned earlier, the film has basic horror sequences and what makes it scary is the sound set-ups and design. Kudos to the sound engineers! Ron Ethan Yohaan who is in charge of the BGM has done an excellent job too. Featuring only one song that also runs like a beautiful poem soothingly elevates the film’s emotion.

Sathyan Sooryan’s camera work is apt and stylistic especially at the night scenes.  T.S.Sursh’s cuts are sleek but runs a little longer than wanted.

In overall, Ashwin has followed the Hollywood narrative and technical style that has rewarded excellently.

Bottomline

'Maya' is a pure genuine horror that leaves you jumping out of your seat from the first frame to the last.

Verdict:

Movie Rating:  3.5/5