7 Khoon Maaf

Who says its difficult to find a good script these days!Direct those people to Vishal Bhardwaj who again shows us as he has done many times before that you just have to know where to look!

Agreed you know most of the story on the papers and TV, but is there anything else that could draw you attention to one of the most artistic yet satisfying movies of the year.

All the 6 husbands and the mysterious 7th one are played impressively and effectively by all the actors that you genuinely feel the difference in the characters. Everyone makes a lasting impression probably depicting various nuances of the male psyche and end up in the coffin just for doing so!

Having said that its far from a feminist movie, the director doesn't really want to elicit sympathy for Suzanna nor does he make a point that all the killings are justified.Therein lies the shrewd wickedness of the director who also manages to insert real life events of the past 2 decades into the script which are discreet yet unmissable.

Yes the narration is linear and simplistic, doesn't hold back any surprises, but after you sit down to watch the movie draws you in completely and gets satirical, black and comical at times as the story smoothly sails along.

Music and background score add to the artistry and Priyanka Chopra breaks new ground playing the difficult role of Suzzana with a daring elan.

Watch it for her and for the filmmakers who are taking Bollywood to a new level.

The negative reviews this movie was given upon release did not discourage me from watching it, and I'm very happy for that, because I really enjoyed it. Okay, 7 Khoon Maaf is not the best movie of the year, nor is it Vishal Bhardwaj's best, but it is just good enough to make for an interesting watch. I was fascinated by the concept of a black widow who kills all the many of her husbands. The fact that it was directed by Bhardwaj, one of the finest directors in the Indian film industry made it more promising for me. This is the story of Susanna Anna-Marie Johannes and her constant search for happiness. She is beautiful, attractive, and she badly wants to be a wife to the ideal husband, but alas, in each of her husbands she finds major flaws which make them quite impossible to live with. The first is possessive, crippled, insecure and jealous; the second is a singer whose growing fame makes him start cheating on her and using drugs; the third is a sadomasochist; the fourth is a Russian spy who turns out to be leading a double life, having another family abroad; the fourth is a police inspector who Susanna reluctantly marries because he knows her secrets; and the sixth is a doctor who saves her life at first, but later tries to kill her in order to inherit her property. Well, six husbands there are and one may wonder who the seventh husband is... well, this is a secret that will be uncovered when you see the film.

With every husband, Susanna tried hard to handle the situation and believed she could change something, but when she realised she could not, she chose the easiest option of killing them. Each time, she was assisted by her faithful servants who loved her unconditionally. 7 Khoon Maaf is one very ironic and entertaining story which is very well executed. Bhardwaj's direction is excellent, and the film is dark and humorous. The cinematography is fantastic and the music also fits the film's mood to the max. I did not find the pace problematic at all, and according to me the movie flowed well. Of course, everything in the film depends on the character of Susanna, and it is a great, nuanced role which is written and presented very well. I badly tried not to sympathise with Susanna's character, but I failed. It's simply because despite everything, she is not presented as a villain but more as a victim. Of course nothing can justify what she did, but the thing is that she herself is actually portrayed as a caring, dedicated person who is just not ready to live in pain and wants to be happy. Additionally, each one of her husbands is a negative character and a semi-monster of sorts, more or less, so it was easy to dislike them. Not even once did I feel for any of them. More than anything, however, it is the film's darkly comic tone which makes the audience take everything easily and never worry too much.

Priyanka Chopra plays the film's main protagonist, and this modern femme-fatale is probably the best role of her career. Chopra really tries her best, but while she does well enough within the parameters of the film and is quite effective throughout, one thing is sure: she is not the best choice for the part and one can easily imagine this role played with much more conviction by a more competent actress. In all fairness to her, at times she is so good that she manages to outdo herself, but in most parts you just want more, or actually less. Chopra is a very sexy young lady, but something is missing there, and maybe it's just because she is not a mature enough actress and does not know when she has to push the right button. She does not really register the complexity of Susanna and her mysterious nature. It's a role that requires an actress who has the correct mix of beauty, sensuality and talent. Someone like Rekha in her younger days would have been a perfect choice for this part, because she had the ability to create a deeply troubled and at the same time cryptic and enigmatic persona. Having said that, it is Chopra's film and the guys are there only to support her. All of them do very well, but those who impressed me the most are Annu Kapoor as her fifth husband, and Vivaan Shah, who is the film's narrator. I recommend you to watch 7 Khoon Maaf, it's an impressive picture and an altogether worthy effort.

Based on Ruskin Bond's short story "Susanna's Seven Husbands," 7 Khoon Maaf stands out as a brilliantly crafted Bollywood movie, setting itself apart from the typical light-hearted rom-coms that often grace the industry. It ventures into the realms of a dark crime-thriller, weaving in dark humor and featuring a formidable female protagonist.

Priyanka Chopra's portrayal of Susana is exceptional, as she undoubtedly takes center stage with her powerful performance. The well-executed cameos by John Abraham, Neil Nitin Mukesh, and Annu Kapoor further enhance the film's appeal.

The script is skillfully written and masterfully directed, maintaining a dark and engaging tone throughout the narrative. Susana, one of Bollywood's darkest female protagonists, possesses a depth that captivates the audience. Her relentless pursuit of a good life and an ideal life partner gradually transforming into a dark and intriguing character is a sight to behold. Susana's complexity lies in her potential to embrace darkness, making her a mesmerizing presence on screen.

While the majority of the film shines brilliantly, the performance of Arun Kumar (Vivaan Shah) emerges as one of the few weak links. Nevertheless, the movie remains a rare gem in Bollywood, showcasing one of its darkest and most enigmatic female characters with commendable success.

Scotland Yard's chief in the 1950s, G. H. Hatherill is said to have flippantly remarked, "There are only about 20 murders a year in London and many not at all serious - some are just husbands killing their wives." One wonders if this was the prevailing 1950s sentiment: wives were expendable, deserving of such dispatch, and replaceable. In 2011 we have an admirable gender reversal in the juicy Vishal Bhardwaj black comedy "7 Khoon Maaf", wherein Susanna Anna-Marie Johannes (embodied enthusiastically by Priyanka Chopra at her sultriest) displays a penchant for marrying and murdering her husbands as they prove unworthy of her.

Based on "Susanna's Seven Husbands", a short story by prolific Indo-Anglian writer Ruskin Bond, "7 Khoon Maaf" (literally "Seven Murders Forgiven") is cheerfully empathetic of Susanna's quandary: she enters into matrimony with every intention of loving, honoring, and cherishing her husbands until Death does them part, but what's a gal to do when the husband reveals himself to be an irredeemable lying, cheating, thieving, duplicitous cad? Why, off him, of course, is the pragmatic solution, arrived at after a decent amount of soul-searching.

I reveled in this sophisticated wickedly funny take on resolving marital crises, and I'm deeply grateful to Vishal Bhardwaj for such a delicious film experience. Can you believe it? Three excellent Hindi films in two months: "No One Killed Jessica", "Dhobi Ghat", and now, "7 Khoon Maaf" – this is rapidly making up for the Hindi film industry's gag-inducing output of 2010.

Susanna is orphaned, prodigiously wealthy, blessed with tawny sex appeal and a wardrobe that tastefully showcases her lovely bosom and long legs. Her daddy left her a vast estate in picturesque post-colonial Coorg, a stable full of prize-winning race horses, and, most importantly, three loyal to the death retainers. These three—a Muslim butler, a large and loving housekeeper Maggie Auntie, and a mute pint-sized jockey Goonga—run her household and estate with dazzling efficiency. But their special genius lies in vermin extermination as evidenced whenever Susanna's husband du jour proves to be inconvenient or in any way unsuitable.

Around the time Susanna is being wooed by Husband No.1, a dashing army captain, Goonga the mute jockey adopts an orphan boy, who earns his keep doing odd jobs. Susanna, smitten by the lad's smarts, daring, and general adorability, decides he should attend school. More than any of her husbands, he turns out to be the love of her life, and it is he who narrates the story of Susanna's many marital mishaps, and final undoing. The boy, Arun, goes from wide-eyed naïf who idolizes Susanna (quite literally – he prays daily to her photograph concealed behind one of that other fierce goddess of the Hindu pantheon, Durga) to a bespectacled forty-five year-old husband, father, and practitioner of forensic medicine who gives evidence that Susanna, after being widowed so very many times, is herself finally dead. Or is she?

Arun is a plum role, spanning a large dramatic arc, for the character goes from harboring an ardent schoolboy crush and aspiring to marry Susanna to appreciating the generosity of his benefactress, but not being blind to her rather deadly faults. Susanna's interest in him traverses from the maternal, initially, to playfully flirtatious to—over the years—seriously weighing his potential as a love/lust object. It's a relationship calling for delicacy in depiction, and it's handled exquisitely by director Bhardwaj, Priyanka Chopra, and wonderful first-time actor Vivaan Shah.

Shah, all of 21 and about to graduate with an Arts degree, is the younger son of acting stalwarts Naseeruddin Shah and Ratna Pathak. Vivaan projects a maturity beyond his years, besides possessing good looks, and an ingratiating screen presence. First, as the orphan relying on wits and winsomeness to get by in the world, and later as the conflicted husband compelled to reveal his most intriguing past to his wife, Vivaan negotiates his way with aplomb, never letting on once this daunting role is his first. Not every newcomer gets to romance—right off the bat—two of India's most beguiling actresses: Vivaan is paired with both Priyanka Chopra and Konkana Sen Sharma.

Any film that deals with so many marriages must have a frank approach to sex, and director Bhardwaj includes many bawdy and sometimes very funny sex scenes between Susanna and her many husbands. Susanna recognizes her sexual hold on men; she reinvents herself seven times into each husband's ultimate dream woman. The seven deadly sins manifest in one form or other in the husbands, and the romance and sex vary accordingly, ranging from Gothic gruesomeness with husband no. 1, to rock star boisterousness with husband no. 2, to cruelly violent with another, to risibly randy with a goatish older intelligence officer, to exotically charming and multilingual with a debonair Russian suitor.

Priyanka Chopra gives a nuanced, knowing, and unabashedly sexy performance as Susanna. Her dusky sensuality has never before been so effectively deployed in service of a character, but she wouldn't be as sexy if she weren't so smart. Chopra lets us see Susanna's intelligence—the biggest turn-on. Susanna is always a step ahead of her hapless husbands. Pitiful and weak, they clearly do not merit so much woman, so her homicidal instincts are almost laudable.

The husbands do a fine job, and Vishal Bhardwaj has assembled a terrific cast of lovers for Ms. Chopra to lock horns with. Neil Nitin Mukesh impresses as the bullying gimp, as do Irrfan Khan, Annu Kapoor, and Aleksandr Dyachenko. John Abraham camps it up as an Axl Rose-kind of head-banger, kitted out in stringy blond wig and kilt, while Naseeruddin Shah mixes seduction with menace as the husband Susanna encounters late in life.

Usha Uthup and the two actors playing Susanna's trio of accomplices were simply marvelous, and I couldn't wait to discover how each new disappointment of a husband would meet his demise. Love kills, indeed, and murder and mayhem were never so much fun!

Nice movie, all around one woman. Want more movies like this