7 Khoon Maaf (2011)

7 Khoon Maaf, as the name suggests, is a movie about murder. However, contrary to popular belief, Priyanka isn’t really a typical villain. She in fact plays the role of Susanna, a sad woman who only wants true love in life. Her fate, however, is so cursed that even after marrying six times she fails to find a single husband who truly loves her. Somehow she has a knack for choosing the worst and hence ends up with the most wicked of men. The way she finds to get rid of each husband is not leaving them or divorcing but just killing each and every one of them – from the dominating Major Rodriques (Neil N. Mukesh), to the drug addicted rock-star Jimmy ( John Abraham), to the sadomasochist poet Wasiullah (Irfan Khan), to the bigamous Russian Vronsky (Aleksandr Dyachenko), to the exploitative inspector Keemat Lal (Annu Kapoor) to the premeditated Dr Tarafdar (Naseeruddin Shah). Wow that sure is a long list!

Even though Susanna isn’t particularly evil, she is kind of weird and that’s shown through depicting her psyche. A sequence in the movie narrates that as a kid she had the option of two roads that led to her school. Both roads were equidistant and she always used a particular road to go. When a mad dog started troubling her on that street, rather than changing her path, she chose to shoot the dog! This trivial bit of information justifies Susanna’s quest to kill her husbands over simply leaving them.

Interestingly, the story isn’t narrated by either Susana or any of her husbands. It is narrated by Arun (Vivaan Shah) who is telling the tale to his wife played by Konkana Sen Sharma. Arun had a childhood crush on Susanna and has been a part of almost all of the stories.

Since 7 Khoon Maaf has been directed by Vishal Bhardwaj, one doesn’t expect anything less than extremely fine storytelling and direction. Maybe it’s because of these high expectations that most viewers get disappointed. The film kicks off in an interesting way, creates curiosity too and also manages to glue the viewer’s eyes to the screen making one wonder what happens next. However, two husbands killed and the curiosity goes away because one can easily guess what’s next: more husbands and murders. There are parts in the movie where one has to be very attentive and really concentrate to understand what is going on. Such a high level of concentration is often not present in viewers. After all, they are watching a movie not studying for a science exam. I believe had the film been a little better narrated, viewers wouldn’t have to put in that level of focus and could understand it with much ease.

Moreover, the length of the movie is another flaw. The film would have been more engaging if it had been framed within the limit of two hours. The last two husbands of Susane bring along very predictable and uninteresting stories and that’s when the film starts looking like a drag.

Having said that, 7 Khoon Maaf has parts that are engrossing and interesting too. Priyanka Chopra has delivered her best to this movie and it seems like Bhardwaj knows exactly how to bring out the best in her. Priyanka’s enthusiasm is evident and so is the ease with which she performs the role making it look very natural. The ease with which she transforms from vulnerable to vicious is commendable. The film fails to answer why she didn’t simply leave her husbands and went on killing them but that’s the flaw of her character and the script and she has nothing to do with it. 7 Khoon Maaf works because of Priyanka and I cannot imagine anyone else doing the role with the nuances she brought to it.

Out of the husbands, Neil Niten Mukesh stood out as the dominating army major and John Abraham left us asking for more while Naseer Uddin Shah breathed life into the last part of the film. The supporting cast including the butler and house keeper was good too.

The art direction and background music are both superb and responsible for giving the entire movie a very haunting effect, which was much needed to make it convincing.

Ultimately, Priyanka’s superb acting skills and other plus points couldn’t really save the film. Maybe it’s just that the viewers were expecting a masterpiece from Bhardwaj and it seemed like while killing the husbands, the director accidentally killed the hopes of the viewers too. Go ahead if you want to watch it but make sure you don’t have kids around. It is rated adult for a reason! – Hafsah Sarfraz

Rating – 2.75 out of 5

Cast and Production Credits

Year – 2011, Genre – Crime/Action/Thriller, Country – India, Language – Hindi, Producer – Vishal Bhardwaj, Ronnie Screwvala, Director – Vishal Bhardwaj, Music Director – Vishal Bhardwaj, Cast – Priyanka Chopra, Neil Nitin Mukesh, Naseeruddin Shah, John Abraham, Iffran Khan, Usha Uthup, Annu Kapoor, Vivaan Shah, Aleksandr Dyachenko, Ruskin Bond

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7 Khoon Maaf – Official Trailer

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Nalini Jaywant in Samadhi (1950)

Patriotic drama addressing Subhash Chandra Bose and the Indian National Army. Following Bose’s call on Indian youth to join in the anti- imperialist front, Shekhar (Ashok Kumar) abandons his wealth to join the INA. In Singapore his elder brother Suresh (Shyam), who is a captain in the British army, has to collaborate with a British spy ring headed by Boss (Mubarak) and the dancer Dolly (Kuldip Kaur). Shekhar falls in love with Lily (Nalini Jaywant), Dolly’s sister. Boss uses this to infiltrate the INA’s intelligence. In the war, the two brothers face each other and Shekhar is left for dead. He nevertheless makes it back alive and rounds up the British spies. Shekhar eventually dies in an operation to blow up a bridge on the India-Burma border. The film, which Filmindia (May, 1950) described as politically obsolete since India had already achieved independence, included the C. Ramchandra hit Gore gore o banke chhore (sung by Lata Mangeshkar and Amirbai Karnataki) praising Bose, Subhash Chandra ke naam se Hindustan ka naam, as well as the socialist-realist marching song Kadam kadam badhaye ja (both sung by the composer C. Ramchandra).

Cast and Production Credits

Year – 1950, Genre – Crime, Country – India, Language – Hindi, Producer – Filmistan, Director – Ramesh Saigal, Music Director – C. Ramchandra, Cast - Badri Prasad, Mubarak, N. Kabir, David Abraham, Kanta Kumari, Ashok Kumar, Nalini Jaywant, Shyam, Kuldip Kaur, Colin Pal, S. L. Puri, Shashi Kapoor

Nalini Jaywant in Kala Pani (1958)

A crime movie about institutionalized corruption. Hero Karan (Anand) discovers that his father, believed dead, is in fact in jail for a murder he did not commit. Karan sets out to prove his father’s innocence with the help of a fearless journalist, Asha (Madhubala). The villain is the corrupt public prosecutor (Kishore Sahu). The key witness is a dancer, Kishori, played by Nalini Jaywant who elevates the film beyond its plot. Her own desire, rendered in the hit Asha Bhosle number Nazar laagi raja tore bangle pe, makes for an ambiguous love triangle that also provides other reasons to that of the hero’s vendetta for seeking out the truth. The other song hit Hum bekhudi me tumko pukare (sung by Mohammed Rafi), in which Kishori unleashes her charms on the drunken hero, was described by Mahesh Bhatt (1993) as `a typical example of a Raj Khosla song and his unique attitude towards sex on the Indian screen’.

Cast and Production Credits

Year – 1958, Genre – Crime, Country – India, Language – Hindi, Producer – Navketan International Films, Director – Raj Khosla, Music Director – S. D. Burman, Cast - Dev Anand, Madhubala, Nalini Jaywant, Kishore Sahu, Nasir Hussain, Sapru, Krishna Dhawan, M.A. Latif, Rashid Khan, Beer Sakhuja, Mukri, Agha