After the supremely entertaining ‘Kaminey’, in which Vishal Bharadwaj emerged out of the critically-acclaimed shell and went on to be both a critics’ darling and also a box-office moolah director, Vishal gets back to fulfilling his artistic thirst with his latest tryst, Saat Khoon Maaf.

Based on Ruskin Bond’s short story ‘Susanna’s Seven Husbands’ (this is the second time Vishal has adapted Ruskin’s work, the previous one being the Pankaj Kapoor starrer ‘The Blue Umbrella’, which was also Vishal’s directorial debut), Vishal dishes out a cinematic experience that Indian audiences might have never seen to date.

But that’s not to say the film is recommended for everyone. The bottom line is that some will find the film boring while some will cherish it to no ends. Those who loved Vishal’s Kaminey and became his fan after the Shahid Kapoor starrer might be in for a bummer, but for those who have adored this film-maker since his ‘Maqbool’ and ‘Omkara’ days (I fall into this category) will be in for a treat.

The film’s plot, strangely enough, has been revealed to the public even before its release. We all know that Susanna Marie Anne Johanness, an upper-middle class lady, will marry and kill her six husbands in her undying quest to find true love. Some who bothered to read the previews will also know why these six husbands deserved to die in Sussana’s hands, at least why she felt it was justified to kill them. But the only missing piece is the seventh husband, which basically arrives during the climax of the film.

So you will be sitting through a film for which you would already know three-quarters of the story. So do not expect surprises. You shall get what you are promised according to the previews and the trailer. It’s a travesty to go into the theatre and expect a Kaminey even after the promos clearly indicate that this will be a dark noir film.

Susanna (Priyanka Chopra) loses both her parents when she is young, and since then, she attempts to fill in the void left by his father, by attempting to find her true love. She quickly marries an army major (Neil Nithin Mukesh) in her youth, only to find him turning into a demon once he loses leg in battlefield. He bashes a fellow soldier for dancing with his wife, shouts at her, has her doing all household duties like housewives of the yore, and half-blinds one of her long-time servants. It’s a bit too far for Susanna.

She takes him out for a hunting ride into the jungle, under the pretext that he would get to shoot a man-eating panther. And when he gears up to shoot from a high branch, she pushes him down to be abhorred by the panther.

Then comes Jimmy Stetson (John Abraham). She meets him during her first husband’s funeral, and from there on it takes off. He is an aspiring musician, and their marriage gives him a break to stardom. He sweeps her feet off with his stunning ‘Oh Mama’, and sings to her almost all the time. But once stardom kicks in, his other side begins rearing its ugly head. She tries to save him, but all in vain. She had no choice, and so she killed him.

Frustrated, she heads out to Kashmir and then meets Wasiullah Khan (Irrfan Khan), a poet who sweeps her with his calmness, adoration and subtle poetry. Its eons apart from the hard-hitting rock Jimmy provided. But Wasiullah turns into an abusive beast while on the bed. He slaps her for not learning her verses well. She buried him alive under the snow.

Then came Nikolai Vronsky, a Russian. He desperately tries to woo her to date him, and even when she refuses, he insists on marrying her. But little did he know by marrying her, he has entered into a death trap. When she finds out that he has another wife in Russia that was all she needed. She feeds him to the snakes.

But this time there is trouble. Keemat Lal, a local inspector who drools over her sexiness smells the foul play. But all her ever wanted was to be able to touch her. So she gave herself to him. Countless Viagra pills gave him the ‘pure satisfaction’ that he wanted. But then that wasn’t enough. He divorces his wife and insists on marrying Susanna, and promptly turns up in a coffin in the very same church they get married in.

From herein on, plus another husband (Naseruddin Shah) the story slowly unfolds towards its climax.

The above synopsis that I have narrated clearly tells you what to expect from the movie. The plot has already been revealed. But what make it a worthy watch are the performances. Even though for only a brief time, every single husband play his part significantly. Neil Nitin Mukesh, often seen in more mellow characters, convinces as the brutal army major, so much so even you would feel like killing him.

John Abraham rocks his heart out as the crack of a musician he plays, and also convinces and the pathetic drug addict. Irffan Khan is brilliant as the hot-cold poet who has a beast inside him during the night. Naserrudin Shah is his usual brilliant self during his brief appearance.

Vivaan Shah takes the cake from the lot with his role as the half-frustrated, half-annoyed young man who cares for his saheb and yet resents her ways of doing things.

But above all of it, it is Priyanka Chopra who inevitably steals the show. She donned 12 avatars several years ago with the bomb What’s Your Rashee, but the seven avatars she takes in this movie beats almost any other female performance you have seen in the history of Bollywood. As the classy wife of a major who dances to jazz, as the rockstar’s wife who does crazy things with him and lies half-naked with him under the rain, as the Muslim poet’s wife who covers even her hair and becomes faithfully subtle and subdued, as the Russian bureaucrat’s wife who dances to Kalinka and drinks pints of Vodka, as a lusty inspector’s wife who just caters to his needs on bed and his disgusted by him off it, as a hurt woman trying to recover from a suicidal attempt while seeking solace in a healer, and also in her final avatar, she is a revelation.

The scene in which she murders Naseruddin is the best of the lot, with the kind of fear, heartbreak and also vengeance that she shows all in a single shot sending chills down your spine.

Usha Uthup also takes the plaudits in an excellent cold-blooded supporting role.

The music contributes heavily to the film. Apart from the distinct flavors of Oh Mama, Darling, and Bekaaran, the number Awaaran helps increase the tempo of the film while the dark, haunting composition of Yeshu basically epitomizes the whole film.

It has to be noted that it takes a brave person to make a movie along these lines- and it is not easy to write an engaging screenplay for a story as dark as this. But Vishal manages to incorporate those elements so well that he does complete justice to Ruskin’s short story. The film is, in its own way, a dark, haunting piece of poetry and you might have never seen or experienced before.

But then again, it won’t be everyone’s cup of tea. Since the story was made public, the film’s main strength is the depth of characterization that comes with each character among a star-studded cast. From Usha Uthup to Vivaan to John, everyone gets an opportunity to flaunt his or her acting credentials in front of the camera.

If anything, this film reinforces the fact that Vishal is a master when it comes to extracting the best performances from his cast, and that he always knows how to choose the right people for certain roles.

As I always said, there is non-one out there who can make a dark movie as good as Vishal and he nails to that fact with his darkest, most morbid film to date. And yet he turns the audiences into cold-blooded beings as well with the scene in which Keemat Lal is shown dead. Though morbid, the promptness of that shot was so ignorant that it sent the theatre into restricted, yet stunned laughter.

There isn’t a comparison for a film like Saat Khoon Maaf, as there isn’t a film in this genre that has graced Bollywood yet (if I can discount Anurag Kashyap’s No Smoking, which is a film nobody understood).

All I can say is it is a very poetic film, but a stunningly morbid and dark one at that. But the ending of it does give you a distinct satisfaction.

Rating: 8/10

« »