Maya was married to late director Ram Govind. She started her career after marriage, with a song in
Aarop (1974), starring
Vinod Khanna. The music was composed by
Bhupen Hazarika and was rendered by
Kishore Kumar and
Lata Mangeshkar. At a time of Urdu-poets' prominence and male domination in the songwriting industry, she established herself with her songs. She has written songs for such composers as
Kalyanji-Anandji,
Bappi Lahiri,
Khayyam, Dilip Sen–Sameer Sen and
Anu Malik. Anu Malik was her most frequent collaborator, with whom she worked in commercially successful films including,
Main Khiladi Tu Anari (1994),
Takkar (1995), and
Yaarana (1995). Apart from films, she wrote title songs in numerous television series such as
Maayka,
Phulwa,
Mahabharat (1987), etc. She also penned
Falguni Pathak's 2000 Indie-pop song "Maine Paayal Hai Chhankayi", which emerged as a nationwide rage. ==Death==