Star Cast: Yash Soni, Deeksha Joshi, Shruhad Goswami, Prachi Thaker, Tarjanee Bhadla, Druma Mehta
Director: Abhishek Jain
What’s Good: It’s an unapologetic mirror to a dark and age-old reality.
What’s Bad: The stretched saga at places and the niche tenor
Loo Break: Not a good idea
Watch or Not?: If you love serious cinema, yes.
Language: Gujarati
Available On: Theatrical release
Runtime: 137 Minutes
User Rating:
Fundamentally, this is a saga of two women who are both abducted to be sold for sex trafficking, but their captors fall for their charms and try to win over them. Urmi (Prachi Thaker) relentlessly rebuffs her captor, Babu (Shruhad Godwami), but Birwa (Deeksha Joshi) soon develops a comfort zone and loyalty with Ratan (Yash Soni), the mastermind in the game. This coping or survival mechanism, whereby she feels she is safer with him rather than in the world and family from where she came, is her final undoing. Urmi, on the other hand, revolts consistently, and her outcome is unique.
Ratan’s legal income is as a night security guard in charge of a plush residential society, and his chauvinistic attitude and basically unscrupulous nature come to the fore when a flat-owner, Tara (Druma Mehta), and her friend, Sameer (Abhinay Banker), humiliate him. He cold-bloodedly plans a diabolical revenge. Meanwhile, Birwa’s sister Purva (Tarjanee Bhadla) continues her search for her and confronts Ratan.
Maaran Movie Review: Script Analysis
The film steers clear of the cops and focuses on the socio-psychological issues. It is an intense, chilling depiction of the depraved side of human nature. There is no solution offered, just a mirror that reflects man’s bestial side. As Babu admits, “A woman is made to be a mother, sister, and daughter before being a woman, but a man is asked to be a man before he is a father, brother, and son.” In other words, a woman for him is synonymous with an object of subjugation and more.
Babu and Ratan come across as completely different individuals in their masculinities. Ratan is devilish, egoistic, and calculating to the end, devoid entirely of the rudiments of humanity. The contrast between Birwa and Urmi is similarly stark. The dialogues are razor sharp, the situations disquieting, especially when we watch Ratan show his ‘affection’ for Birwa.
But perhaps the cliché-less script’s finest aces come in sequences like those in which Sameer insults Ratan, and the latter overhears the conversation between Tara and him after they have shut the door on his face, and that indescribably superb scene in which Purva meets Ratan. Demonically, Ratan gains the psychological upper hand over the till-then-confident girl. Within minutes, the game changes.
Along with the sequence wherein Birwa pleads with her mother (Morli Patel), the opening sequence of a kid and the suitcase and the moving interaction between Birwa and Ratan’s confederate (Parmeshwar Sirsikar), all these situations become lovely examples of how cinema can be incisively used to portray deep emotions like rage, hatred, menace, desperation, fear and resignation, aided by the right cinematography, production design and background music.
Maaran Movie Review: Star Performance
As Birwa, Deeksha Joshi is the lifeline of this story. A complete natural, she enacts the philosophical, resigned-to-her-lot woman with commendable ease, projecting her misguided vulnerability with fluid grace. Her eyes speak volumes in most of her sequences with both Ratan and Urmi.
Yash Soni, as a completely amoral being, brings a rare coolness to his dreaded villainy, especially when he is the nightguard. And yet he shows rare sparks of a better-natured human being hidden deep within.
An underrated turn comes from Prachi Thaker as Urmi. As the determined young woman who is a tad confused in her last sequence, she is outstanding all through. Shruhad Goswami has a complex edge to his character, and he sails through it with almost-lovable charm. Druma Mehta makes a mark as Tara, though Abhinay Banker as Sameer comes across as a shade uncomfortable. But I liked Morli Patel as Birwa’s mother and Parmeshwar Sirsikar in his brief role.
Maaran Movie Review: Direction, Music
Abhishek Jain’s work has already earned him a national award. There is little more, then, to speak about his treading this non-mainstream genre with alacrity. As I often say, a midstream or offbeat filmmaker is almost never able to make mainstream cinema, but the reverse is not true. And this film proves it. And yet, somehow, this film could have been made with an appeal beyond the niche.
The songs are decent, and the background score (both by Alaap and Parth) complements the menace.
Maaran Movie Review: The Last Word
If you are not seeking mere entertainment, this film is certainly worth your while.
Three and a half stars!
Maaran Trailer
Maaran released on 31st July, 2026.
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For more recommendations, read our Name Movie Review here.
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