Maya (2015 Indian film)

Maya
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Ashwin Saravanan
Produced by	S. R. Prakashbabu S. R. Prabhu Prabhu Venkatachalam Gopinath P. Thanga Prabaharan R.
Written by	Ashwin Saravanan
Starring	Nayanthara Aari Lakshmi Priyaa Chandramouli Amzath Khan
Music by	Ron Ethan Yohaan
Cinematography	Sathyan Sooryan
Edited by	T. S. Suresh
Production company	Potential Studios
Distributed by	Sri Thenandal Films C. Kalyan (Telugu)
Release date	17 September 2015 (2015-09-17)
Running time	142 minutes
Country	India
Language	Tamil
Budget	₹10 crore (US$1.5 million)
Box office	₹50 crore (US$7.4 million)

Maya is a 2015 Indian Tamil language neo noir horror film written and directed by Ashwin Saravanan. It features Nayanthara and Aari in the lead.Lakshmi Priyaa Chandramouli and Amzath Khan were in supporting roles. It was one of the highest-grossing Tamil films of 2015. A dubbed Telugu version, Mayuri, was also released. Maya was produced by Potential Studios. The film was remade in Kannada as Aake by K. M. Chaitanya, starring Chiranjeevi Sarja.

Vasanth (Aari) is an artist who is working on a story about 'Mayavanam', a haunted forest. On his friend's birthday, he tells a story involving 'Maya', a malevolent spirit. He tells him about how one experiences chills and witnesses a spirit descending on them when one says "Maya! your daughter is not with me" three times. In order to ridicule Vasanth, the friend says the same three times, and a similar figure enters the room. He falls back in fear, but the figure reveals itself as his wife; it's just a birthday surprise. The next day, Vasanth shows the pictures taken by him during the dressed up Maya's entry to his boss, Ram Prasad (Amzath Khan) and Madan (Utay Mahesh), the episode writer on Mayavanam. Ram points out a smoky form near them and warns him of it. He tells him about a book, Asylum by Kate, that details the life of the mentally ill who were forced into asylums and experimented upon. Madhan then recounts the story of one such inmate, a woman named Maya Matthews, who was taken to the asylum after murdering her husband and forced to give up her newborn daughter to the authorities in the asylum. She falls to her death from the building, with an expensive ring rumoured to be on her body, and is buried in the grounds of the asylum (Mayavanam), where it is believed her vengeful spirit now roams. Later, Madhan and Vasanth's friend—an auto driver—visits Mayavanam to write about his last episode. Madhan disappears, and after escaping from Mayavanam somehow, Vasanth's friend meets with a grisly death soon, by falling off the building just like Maya, which spurs Vasanth to embark on an investigation into Mayavanam.