Maya begins in classic horror movie fashion. Vasanth Sridhar, an artist, tells his friend about the story he is illustrating for — a ghost story from the past involving an inmate in a mental asylum located inside Mayavanam, a forest. He tells how the ghost, Maya, haunts people who call her out and as the disbelieving friend does so to prove that it's all fiction, we see a shadowy figure. We are then told this was a prank but later, a character points out to a smoky form in the video sending a chill down our spine. The action then cuts to Apsara, an aspiring actress and a single mom, who is unde...