There is little that Kajol hasn’t done in her three-decade-plus career, from headlining blockbusters to playing grey roles and recently foraying into digital entertainment. Interestingly though, a horror movie was sorely missing from her filmography. Not anymore. The actor is attempting the genre with Chhorii (2021) director Vishal Furia’s next Maa.

Saiwyn Quadras, who has penned the horror fare, says that the movie has its origins in the making of Maidaan. It turns out the conversation began unexpectedly on the sports drama’s set when leading man Ajay Devgn enquired about Quadras’ other projects.

The Maidaan writer recounts, “Ajay sir and I started discussing a few ideas, which we could develop for his banner. He asked me if I had a story in the supernatural space for Kajol. Maa is a purely original horror fare, with a heavy dose of emotions that you wouldn’t expect in a supernatural film. After he liked the concept, he asked me to make Kajol ma’am listen to it. She loved it. It’s the first time that Kajol ma’am is working on a supernatural emotional drama. She keeps saying that she might not watch Maa as horror films scare her.”

Maa, with screenplay by Amil Keeyan Khan of Shaitaan fame, went on floors in Mumbai in February-end, followed by a schedule in Kolkata and parts of West Bengal in March. As Furia conducts the third leg in Mumbai, Quadras says that having seen Kajol in action, he can’t imagine anyone else in the role of a Bengali mom.

“We are making a supernatural movie, but with her around, we are always laughing. Kajol ma’am is a natural in front of the camera. If there is an emotionally intense scene, she [is fully in that moment], and as soon as she hears cut, she is back to cracking jokes and singing songs. The gravitas she brings to the mother’s role is fantastic,” he shares.

Even as he looks forward to Maa, Quadras holds his last work Maidaan close to his heart. “While the expectations from the film were high, the emotional resonance has been rewarding. As writers, we need to be mentioned when films are announced like Amit R Sharma and Boney Kapoor did during Maidaan’s trailer launch. Ajay too announced my name when they launched Maa. Few filmmakers are secure enough to do that.”