Dear Maya

The film opens into the lives of teenage girls Ana and Ira, students at a convent (Catholic) school in Shimla. They are particularly close and divide their daytime between school and romance novels and boys and, occasionally, sleepovers. They are very intrigued by their reclusive middle-aged neighbor Maya Devi who lives alone in a large house (with her two dogs) and rarely goes out. Ana’s mother explains that Maya Devi lost her father early and lived in that house with her chacha (father’s brother) and mother. Maya Devi was, and still is, a beautiful girl but her chacha constantly thwarted her marriage (by berating her and chasing away suitors). This was because he stood to inherit her estate. In time he passed away and Maya resigned herself to a dreary and solitary life.