Vishal Bhardwaj! The very name is enough to get viewers to theatres. After all, every film of his (Makdee, Maqbool, Omkara, Blue Umbrella, Kaminey, Ishqiya) and also his short film (Blood Brothers) has managed to successfully engage and provide high-octane entertainment as well as meaningful cinema. Hence, 7 Khoon Maaf was definitely on the ‘must-watch’ list of almost every moviegoer. And that was also not only because of Bhardwaj’s successful track record but also because 7 Khoon Maaf had a deadly theme-a woman marrying multiple times and killing all her husband’s! The star cast and the songs were like an icing on the cake! However, 7 Khoon Maaf does have its moments but unfortunately falters at several places. At places, it’s the execution that’s erratic and at places, it’s the writing that’s flawed. What remains consistent is the performance of Priyanka and of course, the murders!
The story of the movie: Susanna (Priyanka Chopra) is a beautiful lady any man would die for! And sure enough, nearly half a dozen husbands of hers are already dead! They were:
Major Edwin Rodrigues (Neil Nitin Mukesh): Suave and dashing. But also possessive and chauvinist
Jimmy Stetson (John Abraham): An upcoming musical sensation who turns out to be evil
Wasiullah Khan (Irrfan Khan): The strangest husband of Sussanna! A poet who seems so innocent and sweet to everyone, but is completely opposite on the bed
Nicoloi Vronsky (Aleksandr Dyachenko): He has everything a woman looks in a man. But unfortunately, he had a hidden secret and Susanna unfortunately learnt about it
Keemat Lal (Anu Kapoor): He’s a cop who gets to know Susanna when he investigates the deaths of her husband’s. He gets attracted to her and blackmails her to marry him. And that was his biggest mistake
Mohdusudhon Tarafdar (Naseeruddin Shah): An expert on mushroom, he seemed very sweet and witty. But he had some deadly plan in his mind
Susanna then marries the 7th husband who knows everything about Susanna’s misadventures and that she’s a sinner and yet accepts her. Who is He? To find out, watch the film.
7 Khoon Maaf is completely unconventional. The narrative, the theme, the concept and even the culmination…everything is attempted in an unusual manner. And that is its plus as well as minus point. It works as it comes a change from the usual Hindi films. And it doesn’t work too because at places, the film gets little stretched and also it gets too bizarre. I would blame the execution here. However, all the murders were very handled!
Out of the 7 stories, each one had its own merits and demerits too. The one involving Neil Nitin Mukesh was interesting thanks to Neil’s characterization. And his murder scene was too good! John Abraham story again worked for the same reasons-John’s (weirdo) character and his murder. Not to forget, the O Mama/O Mata dialogue…very funny! Irrfan’s story was a shocker. More so because of 2 different sides of Irrfan’s personality. Aleksandr’s track went above the head at places as few of his Hindi dialogues were difficult to decipher. And his murder was kind of unimaginative too. Anu Kapoor’s track was awesome especially the church scene involving his marriage (which suddenly transforms to something else in seconds…too good!). Naseeruddin Shah’s story had the ultimate thriller element. And it was here I wished that the flashback mode of telling story was not adopted as one already knew what’s going to happen next.
The climax does come as a surprise and it was the best justified ending. More so because you don’t carry any hatred for Susanna throughout the film inspite that she’s a serial hubby murderer! She was hungry for love just like all humans and you feel bad that she came across all evil men in her life. And herein lays Vishal Bhardwaj’s biggest achievement! However, the film has several cinematic liberties (can’t believe I have to say this for a Vishal Bhardwaj film!) that might make you go, “WTF?! Howz this possible?!” It’ll be great if the viewers excuse these loose ends keeping in the mind the complicated plot.
In Bollywood, where heroines are still relegated to being merely arm candy, it’s nice to see a film where heroine is the central character. And it’s nicer to see Priyanka Chopra portraying the part as she has always essayed wonderful roles with élan. Even in her previous outing Anjaana Anjaani which was a turkey, Priyanka’s performance stood out. And in 7 Khoon Maaf too, Priyanka Chopra proves that she’s one of the most versatile actresses that we have today. Playing Susanna was no cakewalk and it’s magic that she plays her part so effortlessly. Especially in Irrfan’s story and the scenes wherein she was drunk (and not to forget the climax), she was so bloody brilliant! And we’ll soon be seeing her in 3 exciting films-Don 2, Agneepath remake and Anurag Basu’s Barfi! Keep rocking PC!
Neil Nitin Mukesh gives a dashing performance. His look, his smile, his talks...all oozed evil! Terrific! John Abraham portrays the weirdo character with élan. Irrfan Khan looked damn cute in his new look! But no sooner, you start hating him when he shows his true colours! Aleksandr Dyachenko looks very handsome and plays his part well. Anu Kapoor was completely rocking! Watch out for the way he says, “Madam”! This is an actor who has delivered some of the best performance in films like Hum, Ek Ruka Hua Faisla, Om Jai Jagdish, Aitraaz etc and comes up with yet another winner with 7 Khoon Maaf! He certainly deserves to be seen more! And lastly, Naseeruddin Shah was as usual terrific!
The film has a surprise in the form of Vivaan Shah (as Arun)! He has the maximum role out of all 7 men and he’s even the narrator of the film! Most appreciating fact is his voice and also the fact that he plays 30-something gentleman so effortlessly even though he’s just 20! Son of Naseeruddin Shah, Vivaan certainly has loads of acting potential and certainly viewers would love to see in such character-defined roles!
Shashi Malviya as Gunga leaves a deep impact. Usha Uthup (as maid) gets minimal scope but makes good use of it. Konkona Sen Sharma is also there in special appearance and it’s always a pleasure to see her! Ruskin Bond was alright in his small role!
Vishal Bhardwaj’s music is not as fantastic as his earlier attempts but nevertheless worth listening! Darling is the best of the lot although I wish it was fully played from start to finish. Bekaran, Awara, O Mama and Yeshu also leave an impact. His background score however was amazing!
P M Satheesh Shajith Koyeri’s sound design was among the best, especially during Naseer’s murder and also the intro scene of the film. Sreekar Prasad’s editing was slick although plenty of scenes (shown in promos) were chopped off to cut down the length of the film. Sham Kaushal’s action was topnotch (in Neil’s scenes). Ranjit Palit’s cinematography was too good. Locations, from Coorg to Srinagar to Pondicherry were eye-soothing!
The film is inspired from Ruskin Bond’s short story Sussanna’s Seven Husbands. Story, Screenplay & Dialogues (Mathew Robbins, Vishal Bhardwaj) was overall good but script could have been tighter at places. But the duo gets full-marks for their wonderful dialogues!
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