Maha (film)

Maha is a 2022 Indian Tamil-language crime thriller film written and directed by U. R. Jameel and produced by V. Mathialagan under the production company Etcetera Entertainment. The film stars Hansika Motwani in her 50th film, with Srikanth, Manasvi Kottachi, Sujith Shankar, Thambi Ramaiah, and Karunakaran in prominent roles along with Silambarasan in an extended cameo appearance. This film's music is composed by Ghibran with cinematography byJ. Laxman Kumar and editing by John Abraham JK.

The film was announced on 2019 and released on 22 July 2022 after a 3-year delay and being postponed for many times. The film received mixed to negative reviews from critics and audience and became a box office failure. Maha joined Aha's library of films and premiered on their platform on 9 September 2022.

Plot
The film begins with Maha complaining to her boyfriend Malik about some men harassing her. Those men pull up in front of them, causing Malik to fight them. The scene then switches to a man who sits in front of girl who is unconscious in a room full of blood. The police then find an 8-year-old's corpse in front of a building. Another girl is kidnapped and murdered, and her corpse is also found. Maha has a daughter Aishu, who she sends to school. A doctor suggests to ACP Vikram the killer to be a possible doctor as he has erased all semen from the girl's body after raping her multiple times. Alex Pandian, a constable, assists Vikram with the case.

While Aishu is returning home, the school bus stops due to repairs. The bus conductor walks with Aishu to drop her home, but halfway through, he has to go back, so Aishu walks the rest of the way by herself. Maha realizes that Aishu is not home and asks at the school about Aishu. When Maha reaches the bus conductor and driver's home, they have absconded. Aishu has been kidnapped and held by the killer. Maha complains to Vikram about her missing daughter. While the killer distracts Maha by calling her to go somewhere, he enters her house to delete the CCTV footage. Maha receives a phone call telling her to bring cash to a building.

One month later, Alex's granddaughter goes missing. Alex's daughter goes to a building with cash, only for the killer to take the money and attempt to escape. Vikram catches the killer and opens his mask to reveal Alex's face. The scene cuts back to Maha standing at the top of the building looking down and smiling. The movie shows Maha's flashback where she and Malik are in love. Malik is a pilot who leaves for his job when Maha finds out she is pregnant. Maha waits eagerly to tell Malik the happy news. However, she finds out the plane in which Malik was flying went missing in the Arabian Sea. The scene then flashes back to Maha grieving over her daughter's death.

Maha inquires the police about her daughter's case, but they chase her off. Maha decides to find the answers by herself and bribes a policeman to give her all the case details. Through this, Maha realizes that the CCTV footage taken from her house does not match with the one she has. Vikram inquires Alex who reveals that one day, when Vikram was investigating Maha's case, Alex found his son Matthew's car on the road and found Aishu in the trunk. He calls Maha to tell her to go the building and takes Aishu with him and leaves Aishu in the building. Aishu, not fully awake, walks over the edge and falls to her death. Alex, not wanting his son to get caught, did this. Maha listens to the recordings when the killer spoke to her again and again. In the background of the recordings, she hears a mosque and train. Maha goes into the shop of Matthew to ask about train tracks nearby, not realizing that Alex's granddaughter is inside. As Maha leaves, she hears the sound she heard on the recording and the train passing by. She finds out Aishu's phone has been turned on and realizes that Matthew is the killer. Matthew and Maha fight, where Maha is extremely injured but succeeds in beating Matthew and eventually kills him as Vikram arrives with police force.

Production
This is Hansika Motwani's 50th film and Mohamaad Ghibran's 25th film as composer. Sanam Shetty, Srikanth, Karunakaran and Thambi Ramaiah were chosen for important roles in the film. Filming was scheduled to take place in late January 2020.

Music
The music of the film was composed by Ghibran in his 25th film as composer. The entire soundtrack album was released on 12 July 2022. The lyrics for the songs are written by Viveka, Madhan Karky and Soundara Rajan.
 * Kedutthutiye - Benny Dayal
 * Hey Edhiriye (Happy Version) - Deepthi Suresh
 * Hey Edhiriye (Sad Version) - Srisha

Theatrical
The film was released by theatrically worldwide on 22 July 2022, after so many delays and postponements.

Home media
The post-theatrical streaming rights of the film were acquired by Aha, and will be streamed on 5 August 2022.

Reception
Logesh Balachandran of Times of India gave 1.5 out of 5 and wrote "In short, Maha is not as effective as it wants to be." S. Subhakeertana of OTT Play rated the film 1 out of 5, stating that "The ending of the film might frustrate the viewer as it offers no catharsis. The story equally leaves you untouched because it does not care to rise above stereotypes." Dinamalar rated the film 1.5 out of 5.