7 Khoon Maaf - A dark movie

Last week was “Yeh saali Zindagi” – a quirky dark comedy and this week “7 Khoon Maaf”. Seems like “dark” dimensions are the new “in” things in Bollywood.

Honestly, it was quite difficult for me to write this movie’s review. This is a movie which people will either like it or discard it altogether (like the college teens sitting behind me in the theatre and planned to leave in interval).

So I decided to ask myself a few questions:
Did I like the movie myself? “May Be”
Was the movie bad? “Definitely not”
How was the direction? “All I can say is that I have my doubts if someone else could have directed it better. Vishal Bhardwaj has always been a brilliant director. I don’t think there were ever any doubts. Whether it was his first movie Maqbool or the other ones that followed like Omkara, Ishqiya and Kaminey. He has the habit of exploring the dark psyche of his characters and does it beautifully.”
What about Acting? “7 Khoon Maaf is a movie that transitions with the central character of Priyanka Chopra (Susanna) and her transformation from a shy, scared of her husband housewife to a bold, unapologetic elderly female as she moves from 1 murder to another. Once again I am not sure if someone else could have played Susanna better. All actors (Neil Nitin Mukesh, John Abraham, Naseeruddin Shah, Annu Kapoor, Vivaan Shah, Irrfan Khan and the Russian actor) have their own moments in the movie. Priyanka though brilliant is still restrained and doesn’t try to overshadow the others.”

Where I am trying to reach through this self Q&A is that the subject of the movie was complex. It is inspired from a short story by Ruskin Bond “Susanna’s seven husbands”.

With a complicated subject like this and still managing to hold the audience attention as one murder unfolds after another is definitely an achievement and who better than Vishal Bhardwaj? There are some scenes that are top-notch in Indian cinema and that’s where the director’s brilliance comes in.

The movie picks pace in the second half which is much better than the first. Inspite being a dark movie, it still manages some witty moments and also an excellent surprise (Suspense) in the end. I also liked the fact that though so many husbands are murdered but at no point you either feel sympathetic for the wife or express anger and resentment. Somehow, they continue to have a detached feel.

Overall, cant say whether you will like it or not (I am figuring out myself) but you will certainly have an opinion on it. By the way, it certainly might be the critics’ choice for this year with Vishal and Priyanka bagging the honors.