I was interested in the flick because of Vishal Bharadwaj & songs.Because of Vishal die hard fan I am writing it else I won’t. I am not at all fan or have any liking for Prinyanka Chopra. But yesterday when I saw it now I think she can act. As usual Vishal is genius thats why whole flick looked mesmerizing. It’s up to audience whether they take it as dark comedy or thriller. One thing is sure love it or hate it can’t ignore it. It’s based on short story of Ruskin bond Susanna’s Seven Husbands & to bring out story from pages to screen is not piece of cake but when Gulzaar sahab’s student Vishal is doing it than it becomes cake perfect blend of all ingredients. Still I love the book most.
Those who don’t know about the plot it’s story of Susanna(Priyanka) who kills 6 husbands yes only 6 , not seven seventh one is forgiven maaf. Plot starts as flash back when her loved kid in a sense Arun (Vivan shah) who also is in love with her, son of Nasser tells the story of Susanna to her wife Konkana Sen.
First story - Major Edwin Rodrigues( Neil Nitin) is married to Sussy, she wants true love or in search of . But Major is very rough who likes to give orders & orders should be obeyed. She slowly start to dislike his character after in fight Major almost kills his opponent, Sussy takes the patient to hospital where Docs tells that he lost an eye & Sussy says one eye is enough for him to see, their comes true Sussy. They go for hunting there she push him into tiger’s mouth.
Second Story- Jimmy Stetson(John) who is Rock star, his songs are not his own but of his college band. Sussy cover him & he slowly gets lost in stardom & becomes drug addict. She tries her best to clean him from drugs but Jimmy never leaves it , so to kill her pain she kills him with the help of her House maids Khan, rosy(Usha Uttahp) & Gunga chacha (Shashi Malviya).
Third story- After death of Jimmy she travels to Kashmir where she changes her name into Sultana & falls in love with a poet Wasiullah Khan(Irfan) who writes beautiful poems but on bed he loves to beat the gal. Finally her pain gets too much & with her company of servants she buries him alive.
Fourth story- Nicolai Vronsky (Aleksandr Dyachenko) he is Russian spy gets married to Sussy. She send arun to Russia to become Dr. Arun founds out that Nicolai is already married & have kids, he sends the pics to Sussy. When Nicolai returns back she throws in a way to crack (old Kua) which is full of snakes, her Dads passion for snake is in the well Kua so he dies.
Fifth story- Keemat Lal( Anu ) who was inspector during the investigation of Jimmy’s death & attracted to Sussy is now Special investigating officer in Delhi appointed to solve the mystery death of Russian. But Sussy is involved he uses her to fulfil his desire & she uses him to hide the case. He gets obsessed with Sussy, they get married & overdose of Viagra kills him.
Sixth story- After all these marriages & killings with her growing age Sussy becomes mentally sick & tries to kill herself but is saved by Dr. Modhusudhon Tarafdar(Naseer) slowly she starts to like him & get married. One day she finds out that Dr is behind her money not in love & also kills his one servant Khan, so she pulls the trigger & kills him.
7th story- I like to keep it as secret , she becomes nun. And what happens is the climax.
It’s a complex movie. It starts when sussy is around 20’s & goes on till 60 or 70. Vishal without dwelling to much into male characters specially in first half totally give Priyanka to show her talent which directors like Vishal & others only can do. When interval comes you won’t find & when its over you love Susanne. So many weddings & funerals are there but script is too tight that it never gets into melodrama. The bonding between Susanne with her partners which leads to their following marriage is short all over, as every part starts with Susanne being trying to the bond early in the flick. It’s not about how Susanna gets married several times but, how each of her marriage ends. Also the ill feeling in each way is swiftly established as their unstated bonding. That’s how Vishal & Robbin has written the script. Vishal challenges to feel assorted human sentiments from greed, , passion, loyalty, addiction lust , hunger. The flow is slow but its essential so that each track can be nicely show cast with dialogues & performances. Vishal master work shows when he shows changing era with suggestions of news head lines like Babri masjid plain hijack etc. With time make up, costumes also goes perfectly. The murders in the tale are clear, the motive behind them are the main part which keeps to imagination. There are many great scenes but what I liked most is the gun battle between Naseer & Sussy. Anu first interaction with her. John’s pain etc.
All the cast delivered excellent performances even in short roles, Neil looks perfect as Major limp but arrogant, John is becoming good actor with this role he surely deserves a special outstanding when other great actors are there. Irfaan with his beautiful weed ganjedi eyes gives as usual great act. Anu is above all the men lead, he is glorious. Nasser is good in his short part. The Gunga maid is excellent. When it is Vishal’s own flick than how can music be forgotten, great tracks I loved O mama others are also great with Gulzaar sahab’s pen work tracks becomes meaningful. Its Susanna’s flick & Priyanka for me shockingly gave her best shot. Overall it’s directors baby & its beautiful not his best but still good. I saw Delhi belly yes Aamir production one & I loved it more.
Watch it for direction & performance with great musical tracks & never attempted bold out of box story.