‘Maja Ma’ is a comedy-drama film about Pallavi Patel, a seemingly quintessential married woman harbouring a secret that turns her life upside down. The film is now streaming on Prime Video.
Warning: This article contains heavy spoilers
Plot summary
Pallavi Patel is adored by absolutely everybody. Her family loves her and she is always the most popular person in her neighbourhood.
Tejas Patel, her son, falls in love with Esha Hansraj, an NRI from a rich family in the US. Her parents, Pam and Bob, are paranoid and even make Tejas take a lie detector test, which he passes.
However, they want him to pass one final test; whether their families are compatible or not. They arrive in Gujarat and Bob is immediately impressed with Pallavi and the family’s rootedness.
Tara, Tejas’ married sister, is a vocal activist for LGBTQ+ rights. She believes her family is too backward and unable to understand her. During a heated argument with her mother, she blames her for being the same as others while pretending to be open-minded.
During the spat, Pallavi accidentally tells her gets awkward because she is actually a lesbian herself, shocking Tara.
Later, during an event, a girl who is usually at their house reveals that she made a video of the argument. It is played in front of the entire neighbourhood, putting off Bob and Pam.
Suddenly, the neighbours have started ostracising her and Esha’s parents have opted against the engagement altogether as they believe it would hurt Bob’s political ambitions back home.
Tejas and Manohar, Pallavi’s husband, simply refuse to believe the video. At this point, Bob suggests another lie detector test to ascertain her sexual orientation.
Manohar starts to believe that their marriage lacks spark. His long-time friend, Moolchand Adhia, suggests that they need more intercourse to spice up their lives, as that is what keeps his marriage going with his wife Kanchan.
Tejas selfishly keeps pestering her mother to take the lie detector test to save his own marriage. However, Pallavi knows she will fail the test as she is actually a lesbian, but is unable to explicitly tell him this.
In a twist, Kanchan meets Pallavi, and it is revealed that she was, in fact, her lover when the two were young. Kanchan waited to run away with her at a railway station but she never showed up.
During a flashback, they’re shown to be together. Kanchan was always the more outspoken one, and they were clearly in love.
In the present day, Moolchand reveals that Manohar actually came to see Kanchan for marriage, but was smitten by Pallavi.
Tejas overhears the entire conversation between Pallavi and Kanchan, realising the truth. He now tries to convince Esha that the lie detector test isn’t a good idea.
In an attempt to help her mother come out, Esha takes her to an activist who helps the LGBTQ+ community. But she refuses to talk to Pallavi till she is ready herself. Despite Tara’s pleas, Pallavi leaves and asks her to leave her alone.
Tejas tries to take Pallavi to a priest alone, but Tara overhears this and makes it a family and friends trip instead. When he takes her to the priest, she is extremely disappointed by him.
During the trip, Kanchan, Pallavi and Pam are left alone in a cable car. Pam tries to insult Pallavi, but Kanchan gives her a piece of her mind.
She criticises her for failing to accept that Bob never even looks at her and openly tries to get close to other women, and is now trying to act all high and mighty. This hits Pam hard, who begins to reflect on her own marriage.
Manohar ingests a ‘medicine’ to help with intercourse but it backfires and he ends up in the hospital. While there, he asks Pallavi if she ever even liked him. She affirms that she did, but could never love him because of who she truly is.
He turns his back on her as well, as the lie detector test approaches.
Maja Ma ending explained in detail:
Why does Pallavi accept taking the lie detector test?
One day, Pallavi walks in on Kanchan and Moolchand and realises that she has lost her hair because of being diagnosed with Leukemia (blood cancer).
This causes her to reflect on her feelings for Kanchan and her life decisions. Tejas suggests that she does not need to take the test even if it ruins his marriage.
However, Pallavi now wants to take the test and vows to tell nothing but the truth. Tara tries to stop the test, but Pallavi tells her she is now ready to talk about it, no matter the repercussions.
What happens during the test?
Pallavi arrives for the test and completes the setup. Bob starts with the simple question of whether she is actually Pallavi Patel and whether the lights in the room are on, which she truthfully answers.
He then begins grilling her. First, he asks her if she likes him and Pam. She accepts that she does not. He proceeds with questions like whether she likes to sleep with her husband, to which she replies ‘no’.
When he asks him outright whether she is a lesbian, she asks him what he means by that. He asks her if she has had intercourse or touched another woman with bad intentions and she refuses. The machine says she is telling the truth.
Bob continues with the grilling, but Pam has an outburst where she shouts at Bob for always neglecting her. She tells him that Tejas is a good person and they will go through with the marriage.
On their way back, Tejas asks her how she beat the test. She simple replies that the questions were all wrong. Had he asked her if she had loved another woman, she would have happily said yes.
Fed up with all this, she tells Tejas that she will stay till the engagement, but won’t be her mother thereafter.
Does Pallavi’s family realise their mistake?
Back at home, Pallavi criticises Manohar for never asking about her desires when he wanted to marry her. Why does he care so much now? She always tried her best to fulfil the role of a wife and mother.
Tejas accepts his selfishness. He reveals that she always gave him whatever he wanted, and he became so spoilt that he refused for things to pan out in a way he had never imagined. He sincerely apologises to her.
He even cancels the engagement, claiming that a son who couldn’t even accept her mother would never be a good husband to Esha.
Manohar realises his error as well. He declares that he won’t submit the results of the lie detector test to the neighbourhood as all of them have no right to judge her.
He tells Pallavi that she spent all her life making sure that all of them are comfortable, and now it’s his turn to make her feel the same. They can keep living together as companions.
What happens with Pallavi and Kanchan at the end?
Now that the family’s relationship has been mended, Pallavi is ready to resume normalcy and they all go dancing during the festivities.
Tejas meets Esha, who wants them to give more to for understanding each other, and marriage can come later on.
Tejas, himself, brings Pallavi and Kanchan together to dance like they used to. Manohar looks on with full support and has a pitiful glance at Moolchand, who is still unaware that Kanchan is a lesbian.
Pallavi and Kanchan glance at each other, very much in love. Kanchan asks her if she would be with her if she comes back as a man in her next life. But Pallavi responds that she would want the same Kanchan in every life, bringing the film to a conclusion.
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