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Saat Khoon Maaf

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Director           Vishal Bharadwaj
Cast                 Priyanka Chopra, Niel Nitin Mukesh, John Abraham, Irrfan Khan, Aleksandr Dyachenko, Annu Kapoor, Naseeruddin Shah, Vivaan Shah, Konkona Sen Sharma, Usha Uthup, Ruskin Bond
Year                2011
Genre              Drama

We have all grown up with Ruskin Bond and his writing in a variety of genres.  But who would have thought that we would actually land up watching one of his more intense but yet casually written short stories make it to the big screen.  Trust Vishal Bharadwaj to take up four pages of scribbled lines and chase one of the best Indian authors of our time to convert it into a 150 minute screenplay.  And not just that, he has also managed to convince him to appear on screen in a 30 second cameo.  The story titled Susanna’s Seven Husbands is now set to be permanently etched in our memories.

A single legged, hot tempered Keerti Chakra winning Major from the Indian Army who is as possessive about his wife as our friends across the border are about the blasphemy law is Susanna Anna-Marie Johannes’ (Priyanka Chopra) first husband – Edwin Rodrigues (Niel Nitin Mukesh).  He is followed by a drug addict who plagiarizes songs from his college band called Jamshed Singh Rathod aka Jimmy Stetson aka Jim.  A closeted sadomasochistic poet Wasiullah Khan (Irrfan Khan), A Russian Spy with a wife and kids in Russia – Nikolai Vronsky (Aleksandr Dyachenko) and an Inspector who grows into being a senior intelligence officer Keemat Lal (Annu Kapoor) are the next 3.  Bringing up the rear is a Bengali medicine man Dr. Madhusoodhan Tarafdaar (Naseeruddin Shah) who has severe financial problems.  Did I count seven?

What works for SKM is the fact that Vishal Bharadwaj can make anyone act.  Niel Nitin Mukesh has been given a fresh lease of life but I have my doubts on him being able to sustain it for a longer period.  John Abraham is impressive despite his best efforts not be.  And Aleksandr Dyachenko in his first outing is equally good despite dialogues such as “Mein Tum Se Amar Prem karta hoon” and “Mere Paas Maa Hai”. Corny but well executed.  Naseeruddin Shah, Irrfan Khan and Annu Kapoor are anyways amongst the finest actors that this country has seen.  Priyanka exceeds herself yet again.  Usha Uthup as Susanna’s nanny Maggie, leads the support cast with a fabulous performance as her partner in crime. The music is atypical Vishal Bharadwaj and very clearly seems to be made specifically with SKM in mind. The Dialogues are sharp and to the point.  Narration is solid and the movie needed the time that was given to it.  The use of light is superb in some scenes.  Lovely editing.  Nothing seems out of place.

So why then would I give a movie narrated in third person by Arun Kumar (Vivaan Shah) as a story to his wife Nandini (Konkona Sen Sharma) only 7 on 10.  Well the surprisingly bad sound editing (at least in the print playing in PVR Mulund) kept aside I am unable to decide if I thought the movie was too perfect or had an X factor missing in it.  That Vishal Bharadwaj gives a lot of credit to his audience’s intelligence could also have been a reason why I probably walked out of the hall feeling a tad incomplete.  Somehow I am quite sure that this isn’t VBs best work to date.  Omkara continues to be on top.  Movie of the year so far though.  Watch it.

Watch the trailer at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLT-Nt-e_Vk
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