7 Khoon Maaf (; read as "Saat Khoon Maaf"), released internationally as Seven Sins Forgiven, is a 2011 Indian Hindi-language black comedy film directed, co-written and co-produced by Vishal Bhardwaj. The film stars Priyanka Chopra in the lead role, with Vivaan Shah, John Abraham, Neil Nitin Mukesh, Irrfan Khan, Alexander Dyachenko, Annu Kapoor, Naseeruddin Shah and Usha Uthup in supporting roles. The film tells the story of a femme fatale, Susanna Anna-Marie Johannes, an Anglo-Indian woman who causes six deaths in an unending quest for love. The story of Johannes is based on a real woman who lived in Bengal. Her grave is situated in Chuchura, district town of Hooghly,West Bengal.
7 Khoon Maaf is an adaptation of the short story "Susanna's Seven Husbands" by Ruskin Bond. After Bhardwaj saw the possibility of a script in the short story, he requested Bond to develop the story for a film adaptation. Bond expanded his 4-page short story into an 80-page novella, and later Bhardwaj co-wrote the script with Matthew Robbins. The film's musical score was composed by Bhardwaj, and Gulzar wrote the lyrics. Principal photography started in Kashmir before moving to Coorg, where extensive filming was done.
7 Khoon Maaf was released on 18 February 2011 to widespread critical acclaim, with major praise directed towards Chopra's performance. The film earned for its box-office run and television-music-home-video rights against a production budget of . It premiered at the 61st Berlin International Film Festival, receiving several accolades at award ceremonies across India.
At the 57th Filmfare Awards, 7 Khoon Maaf received 4 nominations, and won 2 awards – Best Actress (Critics) (Chopra) and Best Female Playback Singer (Usha Uthup and Rekha Bhardwaj for "Darling").
Plot
Prologue 7 Khoon Maaf tells the story of an Anglo-Indian woman, Susanna Anna-Marie Johannes (Priyanka Chopra), who murders all her husbands. Susanna tries to find love, but each time of the six of seven times, her husband's flaws prove fatal. The story is narrated by Arun Kumar (Vivaan Shah), a forensic pathologist to his wife, Nandini (Konkona Sen Sharma). Arun has known Susanna, who was his rich benefactor, since his childhood, and had a secret crush on her. Susanna had lost her mother as an infant and her father some years later. Her parents had left her with a large inheritance and it was her father's last wish that she marry Major Edwin Rodriques.
Army Major Edwin (Allegory of Envy) Susanna's first husband, Edwin Rodriques (Neil Nitin Mukesh), is an army major who is jealous and possessive. Disabled after losing a leg, he suspects that the beautiful Susanna will be unfaithful and takes out his anger on her. Although Susanna tolerates Edwin's cruelty, she cannot forgive him for blinding her faithful, mute stableboy, Goonga Chacha (Shashi Malviya) with a whip. Edwin ends up becoming the animal's meal during a panther-hunting trip when Susanna pushes him over with the help of her faithful maid Maggie Aunty (Usha Uthup), butler Galib Khan (Harish Khanna), and the stableboy Goonga Chacha.
Singer Jimmy (Allegory of Gluttony) Susanna's second husband, Jamshed Singh Rathod (John Abraham), who renames himself Jimmy Stetson after their marriage, is a singer whose flaw is his gluttony. Jimmy becomes successful and misuses his fame – stealing songs and dalliances with other women and doing drugs. Susanna tries to wean him from his addiction, but when he continues in secret, he is disposed of with a heroin overdose by one of Susanna's faithful servants. Police investigators find footprints near his body, indicating that a person with six toes is the murderer but Susanna uses her charm to deflect suspicion.
Poet Wasiullah (Allegory of Wrath) Susanna's third husband, Mohammed Wasiullah Khan (also known as Musafir) (Irrfan Khan), is a soft-spoken, thoughtful poet by day and a sado-masochist by night, who tortures Susanna in bed. Susanna tries to cover her bruises, but her servants cannot bear to see her mistreated. One fateful night, Susanna seduces Khan and leads him out into the snow where he is ultimately buried alive in a snowy Kashmiri grave by Maggie and Galib Khan.
Nik the Spy (Allegory of Pride) Her fourth husband, Nikolai Vronsky (Alexander Dyachenko), is a Russian spy leading a double life, who is enchanted by her. Even though she initially declines his desire to marry and says that she just wants to stay in love, she decides to test her luck once more and agrees to marry him. She sends Arun to a medical university in Russia to complete his studies. Alas, Arun finds Nikolai in Russia with his first wife and 2 daughters and sends secretly captured pictures of them to Susanna, which he regrets later as he holds himself responsible for Nikolai's imminent death. Susanna also discovers a document which confirms her suspicion that he is a spy, something he had denied earlier. When she confronts him, he tries to cover it up by saying that the woman he was with in Russia was his fellow agent. Susanna refuses to believe him. She then proceeds to throw the document in a well in which she houses her pet snakes. Nikolai unknowingly enters the well in the hope of recovering the document, and meets his inevitable death.
Inspector Keemat (Allegory of Lust) Her fifth husband, Keemat Lal (Annu Kapoor), is a police inspector who has shielded her from prosecution in exchange for sexual favors. Keemat Lal had protected her from being prosecuted for the murder of Nik in exchange for Nik's document and a sexual favour but he continued to come to Susanna for sexual intercourse. Susanna then marries him after his first wife gives him a divorce, but only with the intention of disposing of him for good. His dependence on Viagra then proves his undoing; one fateful night, Susanna mixes an overdose of the drug into Lal's drink, killing him. At this point, Arun returns from Russia as a doctor. When Susanna tries to seduce him, Arun leaves her, taking Goonga with him. It is the last straw for Susanna when she learns that Arun is now married to Nandini and has a son; and attempts to commit suicide with an overdose of sleeping pills.
Doctor Modhu (Allegory of Greed) Modhusudhon Tarafdar (Naseeruddin Shah) is a Bengali doctor who rescues Susanna from her suicide attempt and puts her on a mushroom-only diet. Although she does not want to marry him, he persuades her with a promise that she will be the sole heir of his property as he does not want his ex-wife and daughter to be able to claim it in the case of his death. Actually bankrupt, he tries to poison her in his greed for her inheritance. When her butler Galib dies of the poison mushrooms instead, Susanna shoots Tarafdar during a game of Russian roulette.
Maggie Aunty (Allegory of Loyalty) In despair, Susanna then sets the house ablaze in another suicide attempt as sleeping pills had already failed her once, she had forgotten the bullets beside Dr. Modhu’s corpse during their game of Russian Roulette and did not approve of a death by hanging. But as the fire reaches her bedroom, she changes her mind and flees the burning mansion. Her maid, Maggie Aunty dies in the attempt to rescue Susanna.
Jesus Christ (Allegory of Perfect Love) Some time later, Arun's wife Nandini finds out that Arun lied about his whereabouts and suspects that he is cheating on her with Susanna. In the forensics laboratory, Arun discovers that the body is Maggie Aunty's and not Susanna's but declares her dead to return her favour of educating him. He goes to Pondicherry looking for Susanna. They drink together and Susanna tells him that she is getting married once more and invites him to the wedding the next day. It is later revealed that Susanna decided to become a nun, in effect making Jesus Christ - representation of love and kindness – her seventh and final husband. She then confesses her seven sins to the church father (Ruskin Bond) and feels at peace.
Epilogue Meanwhile, Nandini panics when Arun doesn't return in 2 days as he had promised and alerts the police. They set out on a search for him. Nandini finally reunites with Arun and he assures her that Susanna is dead and that the feelings he had for her are long gone and promises never to leave Nandini again.
Cast Priyanka Chopra as Susanna Anna-Marie Johannes (also known as Saheb, Suzi, Sultana, Anna and Sunaina) Ishita Pancal as Young Suzanna (picture, uncredited) Vivaan Shah as Dr. Arun Kumar Ayush Tandon as young Arun Neil Nitin Mukesh as Major Edwin Rodriques (first husband) John Abraham as Jamshed Singh Rathod aka Jimmy Stetson (second husband) Irrfan Khan as Wasiullah Khan (also known as Musafir) (third husband) Alexander Dyachenko as Nikolai Vronsky (fourth husband) Annu Kapoor as Inspector Keemat Lal (fifth husband) Naseeruddin Shah as Dr. Modhusudhon Tarafdar (also known as Modhu Daa) (sixth husband) Usha Uthup as Maggie Aunty (maid) Harish Khanna as Galib Khan (butler) Shashi Malviya as Goonga Chacha (stableboy) Konkona Sen Sharma as Nandini, Arun's wife (cameo) Ruskin Bond as church father (in a cameo appearance) Vidushi Mehra as Chetna
Production
Development The idea for 7 Khoon Maaf came when Ruskin Bond sent his book consisting of a collection of short stories to Vishal Bhardwaj.The Making of 7 Khoon Maaf. Event occurs at approximately 00:17 He was intrigued by a 4-page story's title named "Susanna's Seven Husbands", and thought it had potential for a novel and a film. Bhardwaj said, "I told myself why would a woman have seven husbands and then I came to know that she also kills them! I was immediately hooked to it. It reminded me of a very old film, Bluebeard's Seven Wives (1926)". Bhardwaj suggested the story to a fellow director, who was looking for a good story. However, after reading the short story, the director dismissed it saying it has no film potential. After reading the story twice, he became even more confident about possibility of a film.The Making of 7 Khoon Maaf. Event occurs at approximately 02:25 Bhardwaj who had previously adapted Bond's novel The Blue Umbrella into a film, decided to adapt the short story for the screen. Bhardwaj later requested Bond to turn the story into a novella, noting that only Bond could flesh out the characters well, to which he agreed.The Making of 7 Khoon Maaf. Event occurs at approximately 02:30 Bond expanded the story into an 80-page novella, which later became a 200-page full-length Hindi script. Bhardwaj co-wrote the script with Matthew Robbins.
Bhardwaj noted that he retained Bond's theme, but incorporated his own elements to make the film a dark comedy. He said, "I had previously taken liberties with Shakespeare. Naturally, when you adapt a story, your vision also comes in it. But I have remained honest to its essence". He included Keemat Lal (who plays a police officer in all Bond's stories), although the character is not in the original story. Bhardwaj decided to include him in the film as an homage to Bond, explaining that he took liberties with characters' names and traits. Bond also had to devise Indian methods of killing the husbands, which he found challenging: "The challenge was devising seven ingenious ways in which she could kill her husbands without being suspected. And she does it successfully, until towards the end".
Casting and characters