Masooda 2022

In 1989, in the rural heart of Chittoor, a quiet escape for two brothers spirals into danger when Alauddin and a mysterious woman circle their path. [Fardeen] covertly helps his younger brother Faizal try to slip away from the village, but the pursuit through the sugarcane fields ends with the siblings being detained and dragged to a ruined forest bungalow. Their older relative, Nargis, sounds the alarm and gathers their elder brother Mir to mount a rescue. A violent, rain-slick accident—the tree collapsing in a torrent—leaves Nargis with a damaged eye, and the strange woman compounds the peril by weaving Black Magic and enlisting another accomplice to carry out human sacrifice. The tone is hushed and tense, with ambiguity and fear tightening around the family as the past intrudes on the present.

Fast-forward to 1999 in Hyderabad, where Mir and Nargis return with a small band of men, carrying a sacred Chaadar (blanket) and a dagger. They confront a circle of people under the spell of dark forces and glimpse a dangerous truth: Masooda Bi’s malevolent influence still lingers. By dawn, the city wakes to news of a brutal murder—the corpse of a woman found tied to a tree, stabbed in a ritualistic horror that echoes the family’s old wounds. The clues suggest a lineage of vengeance and secrecy that refuses to stay buried, hinting at an intricate history that will bleed into the present.

In 2022, the story lands in a quiet Hyderabad building where Neelam and her daughter Nazia live as tenants. Their confidant is their neighbour Gopi, a software worker who’s sweet on his colleague Mini, even as he remains entangled in Neelam’s difficult past with her abusive ex-husband Abdul. Nazia’s odd behavior unsettles the building, prompting Neelam and Gopi to seek help from a local exorcist circle led by Rizwan Baba and his assistant, Alauddin. A Ta’wiz is placed on Nazia’s wrist, a precautionary measure meant to push back the troubling force—but the ritual proves unreliable, and Nazia’s condition grows more alarming.

As the tension thickens, Rizwan reveals a darker thread: the disturbances in Nazia are connected to a long-buried history involving a woman named Masooda. Neelam probes the building’s past and pieces together a story of Masooda Bi, murdered in 1991 by her husband Khaja, whose own actions and the family’s misfortunes tangled in the flame of forbidden magic. Gopi uncovers a key detail—a portrait of a woman found both at Abdul’s home and in Mir’s family house—leading him to the startling realization that Abdul is Mir’s son, and Nazia is Abdul’s granddaughter. Nargis later recounts the family saga: a prosperous sugarcane clan, Masooda’s secret use of Black Magic, and the fateful chain of violence that claimed Fardeen and Faizal, drawing Mir away from his duties and into a cycle of vengeance.

The backstory unfolds: Mir, his wife, their elder son, and the younger siblings Khaja, Fardeen, and Faizal once flourished until Masooda’s spells and a forbidden affair with Khaja sowed disease and despair across the village. Mir’s desperate warnings go unheeded, and Masooda, aided by Khaja, sacrifices them all—until Mir’s vow of vengeance drives him to Hyderabad to confront the harm. Khaja’s attempt to revive Masooda through Black Magic ends in tragedy, leaving behind a buried corpse and a hidden Chaadar and dagger in the same bungalow where Masooda once conjured power. The family’s grief becomes the very anchor of Nazia’s haunting, linking the past to the present through blood and memory.

Back in the present, Gopi retrieves the Chaadar and dagger and returns to Rizwan with Nargis. The ritual night arrives in Chittoor, where Gopi and Neelam must drape the Chaadar over Masooda’s corpse by 2 AM to weaken the specter while Alauddin frees Nazia from the bracelet’s grip. But the plan spirals into danger as Masooda’s ghost lashes out at the participants. Nazia fights for control and kills one of Rizwan’s henchmen and Abdul, while an injured Neelam and Gopi struggle to keep the ritual on track. [Alauddin] steps in to safeguard Nazia, and the ritual climaxes with a tense chase through a veranda as a tree topples, trapping Neelam’s leg. Gopi climbs to recover the Chaadar, and the bracelet’s hold over Nazia finally breaks when he uses the dagger to sever the lingering spirit. The Chaadar is finally laid over Masooda’s corpse, weakening Masooda’s hold and freeing Nazia, and Rizwan acknowledges Gopi and Neelam’s courage.

Yet the finale doesn’t offer a neat resolution. Gopi narrates the entire saga to Mini, who chooses to reconcile with him, only to discover that Masooda’s presence has not disappeared completely. The haunting lingers, a reminder that some shadows refuse to fade, and the film closes on a chilling note that blends ancient fear with contemporary life. The intertwined fates of Neelam, Nazia, Gopi, Mir, and Masooda linger in the air, a testament to the enduring pull of old magics and the fragile line between belief and reality.