As a teenager, especially if you're a little notorious, you plan many pranks—harmless ones that more often than not become reasons for you to smile as you look back at your childhood. But sometimes, a small trick played on someone can backfire and become a memory you wished never existed. A film on one such memory that may haunt one for lifetime seems like an interesting idea for a thriller. Dear Maya, however, is not one, and it is not strong enough to be an emotional drama either, though it tries hard. It oscillates between the story of a teenage friendship and a middle-aged woman's efforts to break free from self-imposed isolation.
The film begins with a shot of a woman in what seems like a dark-coloured cloak. It is obviously Manisha Koirala as Maya Devi, from what we know from the movie's trailer. But it immediately switches to a bunch of teenage girls in a school; the opening shot having no connection to the latter.
Best friends Anna (Madiha Imam) and Ira (Shreya Singh Chowdhary) are high-school students in Shimla. They find pleasure in discussing boys, reading erotic novels, away from the prying eyes of teachers, and doing anything and everything that girls that age would do. However, Ana has an interest in her neighbour, Maya Devi, who has isolated herself in her old, dilapidated building for more than 20 years with two huge dogs. She comes out in the evening to receive the dogs from someone (till very late in the film, it isn't established that she has a servant) who walks the pets. The curtains of her house remains closed too, always.
One evening while Maya is with the dogs, Anna and Ira, looking at her from Anna's window, wonder what would have left her in such a condition. Anna knows that she has been locked up inside her house for almost 20 years. Soon, the conversation shifts to the dining room where Anna’s mother tells them about the neighbour. It seems Maya had a difficult childhood. She was abused at the hands of her uncle after her mother's death. Her uncle, eyeing her huge property, even made sure that she never got married, leaving her feeling betrayed and suspicious of everyone.
The girls strike upon an idea to write love letters to Maya. This will rekindle her life, they feel.
Maya reads the letters, and she is so moved by them that she leaves Shimla, selling all her property, to meet the person writing the letters. She is going to Delhi, she tells Anna, happily. The girls are appalled at the turn of events. Guilt clutches Anna more than Ira, and the girls' friendhip collapses. She is also punished by her parents by being sent to a boarding.
The second half, which seems like a different movie altogether for a considerable time, is more about Anna and her love life, which has just begun to bloom. Her guilt trip has survived six years. Now in Delhi for college education, she is still on the lookout for Maya Devi, pasting her pictures on the walls of Delhi. It is also about the friendship between the two girls that had gone sour with the turn of events.
Amateur acting by the girls, and an unnecessarily stretched plot line dampen the movie. A little more effort from debutante director Sunaina Bhatnagar could have made the movie more cohesive. Despite a good performance by Koirala, who doesn't have as much scene presence as the girls, and hummable background tracks, the film lacks emotions.
Film: Dear Maya
Director: Sunaina Bhatnagar
Cast: Manisha Koirala, Madiha Imam, Shreya Singh Chaudhary
Rating: 2/5
