‘7 Khoon Maaf’ in English means: Seven Murders Forgiven. It is a black comedy thriller revolving around the life of a beautiful lady played by Priyanka Chopra who goes on to kill all the husbands in her life. 7 Khoon Maaf movie review…
Based on Ruskin Bond’s short story – Susanna’s Seven Husbands, the film features seven male actors with Naseeruddin Shah who plays the oldest husband. Other husbands of the lady are Neil Nitin Mukesh as the young Army Major, John Abraham, Irrfan Khan, Annu Kapoor and Russian actor Aleksandr Dyachenko.
The seventh husband is a mystery which keeps the viewer glued till the end of the film.
Susanna Anna-Marie Johannes, a beautiful lass, who over the course of thirty-five odd years, gets married seven times due to the untimely and mysterious deaths of half a dozen of her hapless husbands.
Susanna Anne Marie Johannes (Priyanka Chopra) feels betrayed in love after her marriage. She has hope and attempts to finding true love by marrying several times, seven times to be precise, and yet does not find what she desires in life even after her seven marriages. Very skillfully, she goes on killing each of her seven husbands in her search for true love and marital bliss.
Born to a Christian father and a Hindu mom, Susanna alias Saheb is a wealthy woman whose parents are no more. She has a guardians in Maggie aunty (Usha Uthup), a caretaker in Ghalib uncle (Harish Khanna) and a domestic help Goonga (Shashi Malviya) who cannot speak.
Her first husband, Edwin Rodriques (Neil Nitin Mukesh), is an over possessive and doubting army man. Incidentally the Army Major has a challenge fight with Goonga where in a hunter-fight he mercilessly injures one eye of the poor servant. Susanna kills him because she has more care for Goonga the trusted servant rather than her over possessive and jealous husband.
She gets married to a guitarist Jamshed Rathod alias Jimmy (John Abraham) but soon kills him too when she comes to know about his indulgence in drugs and kinky sex with other girls. Then she marries Wasiullah Khan alias Musafir (Irrfan Khan), an Urdu poet. The poet has weird ideas about love and sex and eventually beats up Susanna brutally every night. Tired, Susanna kills him too.
Her fourth husband is a Russian, Nikolai Vronsky (Alexsandr Dyachenko), who hides the fact from her that he already has a wife and children in Russia. Susanna feels cheated as this Russian won her heart by claiming he was a one-woman man. He is then murdered.
It is now a high profile murder case as it involves a foreign national. An intelligence officer is now on the case. The smart Susanna uses her physical charms on the intelligence officer Keemat Lal (Annu Kapoor) who by twisting facts, saves her from landing in jail. Susanna has to get married to Keemat Lal but even this marriage doesn’t last as he becomes her fifth victim
The frustrated Susanna then marries Dr. Modhusudan Tarafdar (Naseeruddin Shah) and even he is killed by her when she comes to know about the doctor who himself was a murderer.
After decimating the doctor husband, Susanna burns her palatial house to show that she had committed suicide.
Convinced of her death, the police close the matter, but Susanna is alive and will come across her seventh husband…
The strange circumstances of their deaths, makes Susanna a prime suspect. Enigmatic and irresistibly charming in equal measure – Suzanna is the kind of a woman any man would die for! Literally !
The acting is top level from the veterans and even the new Vivaan Shah in 7 Khoon Maaf. Priyanka Chopra is mesmerizing in all stages of her life. The ‘Dar-r-r-r-ling’ song and the background music are fine. There are some glitches in the screenplay and in the latter half the pace is very slow.
Cast of 7 Khoon Maaf:
Priyanka Chopra – Susanna Anna-Marie Johannes
Neil Nitin Mukesh – Major Edwin Rodriques
John Abraham – Jimmy Stetson / Jamshed Singh Rathore
Irrfan Khan – Wasiullah Khan
Aleksandr Dyachenko – Nicolai Vronsky
Annu Kapoor – Inspector Keemat Lal
Naseeruddin Shah – Dr. Modhusudhon ‘Monu Da’ Tarafdar
Vivaan Shah – Arun Kumar Singh
Usha Uthup – Maggie – Maid
Konkona Sen Sharma – Nalini A. Singh
Shashi Malviya – Goonga
Ruskin Bond in a Guest appearance
Harish Khanna
Credits & Crew of 7 Khoon Maaf:
Produced by Ronnie Screwvala, Vishal Bhardwaj
Directed by Vishal Bhardwaj
Writing credits – Matthew Robbins and Vishal Bhardwaj
Based on a story by Ruskin Bond
Original Music & Background Score by Vishal Bhardwaj
Lyrics – Gulzar
Cinematography – Ranjan Palit
Film Editing – Sreekar Prasad
Casting by Honey Trehan
Sound Design – P.M. Satheesh, Sajith Koyeri
Sync Sound – Sanjay Kurian
Production Design – Samir Chanda
Action – Shyam Kaushal
Costume Design by Payal Saluja
Supervising Producer – Punam Sawhney
Line Producer – Sanjeev Kumar
Associate Director – Honey Trehan, Manish Hariprasad, Vikas Mehta
Executive Producer – Ajay G. Rai
Creative Producer – Vikas Bhal
7 Khoon Maaf, movie review