Movie review - 7 Khoon Maaf

We, the members of the human race, have a gift of an intellect. And that has made us wonder many things. It makes us question god’s existence. It makes us predict the future. And it makes us reminisce about what could have been. And it was the same feeling when I left the cinema hall after watching 7 Khoon Maaf.

I am not a huge fan of Mr. Vishal Bharadwaj’s work. I believe he started off very well with Makdee but has not been able to replicate that skill with his subsequent ventures. He came close with The Blue Umbrella – which incidentally was another children’s film – but others like Maqbool, Omkara and Kaminey were a little below par. And 7 Khoon Maaf just adds to this ‘underwhelming’ list. But, credit where it’s due, he always has interesting subjects to make films on and it’s just that his execution falls short of the standard that his ideas deserve. One of the drawbacks of his filmmaking is that he is too enamoured with his source and treats it with such reverence that his film seems derivative. So, it is no wonder then that his best work – in my opinion – isn’t based on any other work. Another problem with his films – and this latest addition suffers heavily from it – is the lack of subtlety.

Sample the very opening sequence here, Ms. Priyanka Chopra puts a gun to her head, slowly tears well up in her eyes and her lips begin to quiver. It’s all fine till this stage but then she screams a violent, shrill and – may I add – a very idiotic scream as she pulls the trigger and makes an ugly mess of the scene. There is another sequence when a house servant, Goonga (Shashi Malviya), abuses Mr. Neil Nitin Mukesh through his hand gestures. The whole audience knows Mr. Mukesh has been made a fool out of through the gestures, but still Mr. Bharadwaj makes it a point to hammer it home by explaining the meaning of the gestures to the audience. Then there is also a reference to Anna Karenina put in to explain the name of the character that Mr. Aleksandr Dyachenko plays. And of course, apart from a handful of sequences, Ms. Chopra’s whole performance is very loud.

This film then is about Suzanna Anna-Marie Johannes (Priyanka Chopra) and her quest to seek true love. Her journey takes her through six marriages and six husbands who manage to disappoint her in one way or another. And for her, the only way to end her disappointment – and, to a degree, her harassment – is to kill her husbands. The way she transforms through her journey is one of the better things about this film. Initially, she wants to make her marriages work and is reluctant to take the fatal step. She makes that decision out of necessity and in case of her second husband (Mr. John Abraham) even out of some pity. As the story moves on she stops having to ponder the issue and descends into madness. She even becomes manipulative and starts planning the murders. And then as she grows older and thinks she has found true love again – and is betrayed again – she becomes repentant. We discover the full extent of her repentance near the end. Apart from this transformation, though, there is little in this film that holds the interest of the viewer.

Indeed the events are repetitive and soon become predictable – as it was bound to happen with such a story. Because, after all, the story is cyclic – Suzanna meets someone, marries him, murders him and then again meets someone else and it happens all over again. There is no element of suspense or intrigue as to how things unfold on screen. The reasons for murders are different but not original; the ways of killing – which really should have been the ones to make the show – lack innovation and the timings for the kills hardly come as a shock. So, the only thing that could have held viewers’ interest is the six individual stories, but again they are just not captivating enough or should I say not weird enough. All of them give a feeling of ‘seen that before’. We all have known egomaniac and suspicious husbands, husbands who have another woman, husbands who marry for money, husbands who beat up their wives and then women who manipulate men for their gain. The only story that Indian audience may find slightly original is the one with a rock star husband. Nothing, as you can see, out of the ordinary. Also, there are a couple of inconsistencies in the film. For example, if you are a Russian diplomat in India and have a wife/girlfriend back home then the last thing you will want to do is get married again. But Nicolai Vronsky (Aleksandr Dyachenko) – Suzanna’s 4th husband – keeps insisting on it. He should have been delighted with a woman who just wants to stay as a lover and not become a wife. And near the end of the film nobody seems to question the disappearance of the old maid. With interesting storytelling, I might not have wanted to nitpick with regards to logic, but then, there it is.

Do the performances save the film then? I will say they could have. Apart from Mr. John Abraham nobody is bad, really. They all, the husbands, do well with what they have. Their problem is they just don’t have enough screen time to flesh out their characters. It is no wonder then that the better performances have come from those who have greater screen time. Mr. Annu Kapoor is the best of the lot and he plays the cop smitten by Suzanna to perfection. Mr. Neil Nitin Mukesh is also good, though his character overdoes the jealousy bit. You only wish that the movie had more of Mr. Irrfan Khan as he is excellent in his short role. Mr. Dyachenko tries valiantly but he just isn’t into the character enough. And Mr. Naseeruddin Shah is wasted as Dr. Modhusudhon Tarafdar. The characters which do get a lot of screen time – the butler (), Goonga (Shashi Malviya) and Maggie aunty (Usha Uthup) – are adequate. Mr. Vivaan Shah as Arun is also good. Ms. Chopra’s performance ranges from poor to very good. There are a few moments when she nails the whole Suzanna character especially when she is around Mr. Annu Kapoor. The way she plays him around is great to watch. Then notice how she portrays Suzanna’s melancholy loneliness. They are some of the moments in the film when you really feel for her. Rest of her performance – as I have said before – is loud and clichéd. And that, I feel, has a lot to do with how the director wanted her to act because there are similarly loud moments from other actors, too.

The very basic issue with this film, in my opinion, is that it fails to clearly define itself. I believe Mr. Bharadwaj set out to make a dark comedy but never went to the full extent of making one. There are moments in the film when he succeeds but there are many more when he doesn’t. Suzanna’s trysts with Mr. Irrfan Khan (Musafir) and some elements in the story with Mr. Dyachenko are perfect examples of when he succeeds. While the stories involving Mr. Abraham and Mr. Mukesh end up being parodies. Also, he succeeds in portraying Suzanna’s loneliness as mentioned above. But, he fails to conjure up the aura of mystery or surrealism that a dark comedy requires. This and some inconsistent characterization makes the film struggle to create an impact.

The music for this film has been composed by Mr. Bharadwaj himself and it is very good. Awaara, Bekaraan and Darling are excellent soundtracks. And the theme music that you can hear playing on the official website is simply awesome. Listening to it with your eyes closed and body relaxed creates just the aura that I mentioned a dark comedy should have.

Suzanna’s seven husbands is a fascinating story to tell and Suzanna is an equally fascinating character to portray. And while walking out of the cinema hall, I just wondered what could have been if Mr. Bharadwaj had decided to go in for a full blown dark comedy; what could have been if he had changed the end to show condemnation and not redemption; what could have been if Mr. Irrfan Khan had had even 2-3 minutes more of a screen presence or still if Mr. Bharadwaj had let him portray all the 6 husbands; what could have been if Mr. Bharadwaj had taken the stories of the rock star husband and the doctor husband more seriously and most importantly what could have been if he had cast a certain Madhuri Dixit to play the enigmatic Suzanna! Sigh.

Despite all its disadvantages, I will say this is a film worth watching once, if only to watch something different. Do give this one a chance.