Maya is a 2015 Indian horror film written and directed by Ashwin Saravanan.[2] It features Nayantara in the lead role,[3] while Aari plays a pivotal role and Lakshmi Priyaa Chandramouli
play supporting roles. The film and Nayanthara's performance have
received positive reviews from critics. It was dubbed in Telugu as
"Mayuri".
The movie starts with Vasanth(Aari) drawing a sketch about his new episode on Mayavanam, showing a woman in the dark, sitting in a wheel chair. He surprises his friend on his birthday with a horror anecdote similar to that of Bloody Mary. The friend who doesn't believe in superstitions, calls out the name of "Maya" thrice. He sees the silhouette of a lady standing behind Vasanth and falls back in fear.
Vasanth is warned about a woman named Maya Matthews by his editor-in-chief, Ram Prasad(Amzath Khan), who is also the husband of Vasanth's ex-lover Anjali(Reshmi Menon). Ram introduces Catherine to Vasanth, who has written a book titled "The Madness in Asylum" about the life of mentally-ill people who were forced into the asylum and used for testing medicines, finally being buried. Madhan(Uday Mahesh), the episode writer for the story, recalls a flashback about Maya. Maya Matthews is a rich, young woman who gets married to her lover. On their first anniversary, she finds out that her husband is having an affair and that she was pregnant. She kills her husband with poison, due to which causes one of her relatives to get her admitted in a mental asylum. There she delivers a baby girl but within a week, the baby is forcefully taken away from her. She tries to escape from the asylum, but is unsuccessful. A medical test done on her, causes her to lose her sight. One day, she jumps off the building to her death. It's rumored that she was wearing an expensive sapphire ring, presumed to be her wedding ring. They say it's invaluable and was buried along with the rest of her belongings in the casket. From that day onwards, speculation has it that her spirit roams the asylum and kills people working there.
Vasanth doesn't believe in ghosts, but his friend does and joins Madhan on his trip to Mayavanam. There, Madhan gets lost and a guy finds Madhan's spirit. Terrified, he runs into the building but never comes out. One day Vasanth's friend commits suicide, Vasanth plans to go to "Mayavanam" to investigate the reason behind all this.
The screen closes to open with Apsara (Nayantara) waiting for her audition. Apsara impresses the director with her performance. She's is an orphan and a single mother - separated from her husband, Arjun(Aari) (also an actor) - living with her friend, Swathi(Lakshmi Priyaa Chandramouli) who works at RK Studios. She constantly feels a presence around her and her baby. She's in debt and the situation requires her to earn money quickly. A producer owes her money for having worked on an advertisement. Since her debts are piling up, she decides to confront the producer at his office. When she gets there he is not there and doesn't answer her calls either.
Meanwhile an alternative solution appears. RK Studio announces a promotional contest revolving around their film about Mayavanam, named "Irul". They offer 5 lakhs to contestants if they agree to be bound by five conditions. The producer who owes Apsara money accepts this challenge and begins watching the movie. To help Apsara, Swathi asks her to come there hoping to catch the producer before the movie ended in 30 minutes. As the movie is about to end, Swathi walks away to attend a phone call. The producer is shocked to find himself on screen as part of the movie. The producer dies as the film ends, leaving everyone shell shocked, with Swathi raising concerns.
Apsara is confronted by the person she owes money to. She decides to watch the movie to earn the money to repay her debt. She accepts the challenge, much to Swathi's dismay. The movie starts to play and it's revealed that every scene that the audience has been watching, aside from Apsara's life, was actually the movie "Irul" itself. This includes Vasanth, his friend, and Madhan. As Apsara continues to watch the movie, it starts from the audience had been left off - with Vasanth entering "Mayavanam". Suddenly, two hands cover her eyes from behind and she finds herself in "Mayavanam". A totally clueless Apsara starts to walk through the forest, only to find Vasanth being held at gun point by Ram Prasad. Catherine had caught Vasanth taking pictures of Ram searching for Maya's casket.
They are both held hostage by Ram, when they hear Ram's henchman, who was digging their grave, scream. It turns out to be a hoax, but they end up discovering Maya's casket, including the dairy she had kept while she was in the asylum, and a doll she had kept for her child. The ring, however, is nowhere to be found. Ram begins to redirect his frustration towards Vasanth as Apsara looks on. Suddenly, everyone sees a ghost levitating behind Ram. They run in different directions, with Vasanth grabbing Apsara, but the two are eventually split up as well. Meanwhile, Ram gets killed.
The forest officer working closely with Ram enters the forest with a gun to check on the group of people, but instead finds a stretcher with Ram on it. Maya's spirit kills Catherine too. The henchman is also killed. Meanwhile, Apsara finds an old dome-like structure in the forest where there is a small pond of water and she sees her own reflection in it. Realizing something is wrong, she makes a run for it, but she's shot by the forest officer. To his shock, she is caught by Maya's spirit from falling on her head, and it is revealed that Maya is Apsara's mother as Vasanth watches on. Mother and daughter have an emotional reunion for a few seconds, before Maya kills the forest officer as well.
Apsara subsequently wakes up in the theatre (the real world) next to a frantically pleading Swathi. Arjun is waiting for her as well, holding her baby in his arms. It's revealed that the person who portrayed Vasanth in the movie is really Arjun. Everything that happened to Apsara feels like a dream for but she finds her mother's diary and the doll she had kept for Apsara on her lap, leaving her confused and clueless. It's then revealed by Arjun that the producer who owed Apsara money was the one who had admitted Maya to the asylum. He had watched the screening just to make sure whether any details about his involvement showed up in the movie, when he was killed. The director had investigated this in private and revealed it only to Arjun, after Apsara had been grabbed by the hands. Arjun also mentions that the ring was supposed to be with the producer when he started watching the movie, but it wasn't found. Arjun wonders why, but Apsara declines to investigate, feeling content with the fact that she received what her mother had meant for her (the diary and doll).
RK Studios holds a press meet about the success of "Irul" and the director talks about a prequel covering the real story of Maya, since the first film was just about the forest of "Mayavanam". He mentions that Maya's real daughter Apsara will play her mother in the movie. At the end, Apsara is seen getting ready for the shoot and getting some encouragement from her husband Arjun. It's then revealed that the director had stolen the ring from the dead producer having seen it before anyone else. The shooting of the movie begins in the old asylum building in "Mayavanam" and the director says "action" for the first scene, with Apsara ready and sitting with her back facing the camera in a wheel chair.
The movie ends with someone tapping Swathi's shoulder from behind while the shooting begins and everyone is shocked to find it to be Apsara. As everyone looks back in horror to the person sitting on the wheel chair, the director is killed and the ring he had stolen from the producer falls to the floor as everyone watches on.
The movie starts with Vasanth(Aari) drawing a sketch about his new episode on Mayavanam, showing a woman in the dark, sitting in a wheel chair. He surprises his friend on his birthday with a horror anecdote similar to that of Bloody Mary. The friend who doesn't believe in superstitions, calls out the name of "Maya" thrice. He sees the silhouette of a lady standing behind Vasanth and falls back in fear.
Vasanth is warned about a woman named Maya Matthews by his editor-in-chief, Ram Prasad(Amzath Khan), who is also the husband of Vasanth's ex-lover Anjali(Reshmi Menon). Ram introduces Catherine to Vasanth, who has written a book titled "The Madness in Asylum" about the life of mentally-ill people who were forced into the asylum and used for testing medicines, finally being buried. Madhan(Uday Mahesh), the episode writer for the story, recalls a flashback about Maya. Maya Matthews is a rich, young woman who gets married to her lover. On their first anniversary, she finds out that her husband is having an affair and that she was pregnant. She kills her husband with poison, due to which causes one of her relatives to get her admitted in a mental asylum. There she delivers a baby girl but within a week, the baby is forcefully taken away from her. She tries to escape from the asylum, but is unsuccessful. A medical test done on her, causes her to lose her sight. One day, she jumps off the building to her death. It's rumored that she was wearing an expensive sapphire ring, presumed to be her wedding ring. They say it's invaluable and was buried along with the rest of her belongings in the casket. From that day onwards, speculation has it that her spirit roams the asylum and kills people working there.
Vasanth doesn't believe in ghosts, but his friend does and joins Madhan on his trip to Mayavanam. There, Madhan gets lost and a guy finds Madhan's spirit. Terrified, he runs into the building but never comes out. One day Vasanth's friend commits suicide, Vasanth plans to go to "Mayavanam" to investigate the reason behind all this.
The screen closes to open with Apsara (Nayantara) waiting for her audition. Apsara impresses the director with her performance. She's is an orphan and a single mother - separated from her husband, Arjun(Aari) (also an actor) - living with her friend, Swathi(Lakshmi Priyaa Chandramouli) who works at RK Studios. She constantly feels a presence around her and her baby. She's in debt and the situation requires her to earn money quickly. A producer owes her money for having worked on an advertisement. Since her debts are piling up, she decides to confront the producer at his office. When she gets there he is not there and doesn't answer her calls either.
Meanwhile an alternative solution appears. RK Studio announces a promotional contest revolving around their film about Mayavanam, named "Irul". They offer 5 lakhs to contestants if they agree to be bound by five conditions. The producer who owes Apsara money accepts this challenge and begins watching the movie. To help Apsara, Swathi asks her to come there hoping to catch the producer before the movie ended in 30 minutes. As the movie is about to end, Swathi walks away to attend a phone call. The producer is shocked to find himself on screen as part of the movie. The producer dies as the film ends, leaving everyone shell shocked, with Swathi raising concerns.
Apsara is confronted by the person she owes money to. She decides to watch the movie to earn the money to repay her debt. She accepts the challenge, much to Swathi's dismay. The movie starts to play and it's revealed that every scene that the audience has been watching, aside from Apsara's life, was actually the movie "Irul" itself. This includes Vasanth, his friend, and Madhan. As Apsara continues to watch the movie, it starts from the audience had been left off - with Vasanth entering "Mayavanam". Suddenly, two hands cover her eyes from behind and she finds herself in "Mayavanam". A totally clueless Apsara starts to walk through the forest, only to find Vasanth being held at gun point by Ram Prasad. Catherine had caught Vasanth taking pictures of Ram searching for Maya's casket.
They are both held hostage by Ram, when they hear Ram's henchman, who was digging their grave, scream. It turns out to be a hoax, but they end up discovering Maya's casket, including the dairy she had kept while she was in the asylum, and a doll she had kept for her child. The ring, however, is nowhere to be found. Ram begins to redirect his frustration towards Vasanth as Apsara looks on. Suddenly, everyone sees a ghost levitating behind Ram. They run in different directions, with Vasanth grabbing Apsara, but the two are eventually split up as well. Meanwhile, Ram gets killed.
The forest officer working closely with Ram enters the forest with a gun to check on the group of people, but instead finds a stretcher with Ram on it. Maya's spirit kills Catherine too. The henchman is also killed. Meanwhile, Apsara finds an old dome-like structure in the forest where there is a small pond of water and she sees her own reflection in it. Realizing something is wrong, she makes a run for it, but she's shot by the forest officer. To his shock, she is caught by Maya's spirit from falling on her head, and it is revealed that Maya is Apsara's mother as Vasanth watches on. Mother and daughter have an emotional reunion for a few seconds, before Maya kills the forest officer as well.
Apsara subsequently wakes up in the theatre (the real world) next to a frantically pleading Swathi. Arjun is waiting for her as well, holding her baby in his arms. It's revealed that the person who portrayed Vasanth in the movie is really Arjun. Everything that happened to Apsara feels like a dream for but she finds her mother's diary and the doll she had kept for Apsara on her lap, leaving her confused and clueless. It's then revealed by Arjun that the producer who owed Apsara money was the one who had admitted Maya to the asylum. He had watched the screening just to make sure whether any details about his involvement showed up in the movie, when he was killed. The director had investigated this in private and revealed it only to Arjun, after Apsara had been grabbed by the hands. Arjun also mentions that the ring was supposed to be with the producer when he started watching the movie, but it wasn't found. Arjun wonders why, but Apsara declines to investigate, feeling content with the fact that she received what her mother had meant for her (the diary and doll).
RK Studios holds a press meet about the success of "Irul" and the director talks about a prequel covering the real story of Maya, since the first film was just about the forest of "Mayavanam". He mentions that Maya's real daughter Apsara will play her mother in the movie. At the end, Apsara is seen getting ready for the shoot and getting some encouragement from her husband Arjun. It's then revealed that the director had stolen the ring from the dead producer having seen it before anyone else. The shooting of the movie begins in the old asylum building in "Mayavanam" and the director says "action" for the first scene, with Apsara ready and sitting with her back facing the camera in a wheel chair.
The movie ends with someone tapping Swathi's shoulder from behind while the shooting begins and everyone is shocked to find it to be Apsara. As everyone looks back in horror to the person sitting on the wheel chair, the director is killed and the ring he had stolen from the producer falls to the floor as everyone watches on.
Cast
- Nayantara as Apsara and Maya
- Aari as Vasanth and Arjun
- Amzath Khan as Ram
- Lakshmi Priyaa Chandramouli as Swathi
- Robo Shankar as Shankar
- Mime Gopi as RK
- Sharath as Kamal
- Uday Mahesh as Madhan
- Reshmi Menon as Anjali
- G. M. Kumar as Arunachalam
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