7 Khoon Maaf: Love and Longing

Vishal,who is a self-proclaimed fan of William Shakespeare,has no qualms in saying that he loves to base his films on the bard’s novels.I can live my life on Shakespeare,be it Romeo Juliet,Hamlet or Julius Ceasar, he said.

While Maqbool was a complicated love triangle based on Shakespeare’s Macbeth,Omkara with its unique and interesting plot was based on Othello and though Kaminey was not based on any of the bards works,it followed a unique path.

Last week,the director presented the first look of his latest offering 7 Khoon Maaf which has Priyanka Chopra as the leading lady.

The feisty actress promises to be a total surprise in this unusual love story. For the first time Priyanka will be seen shedding all her inhibitions to get intimate with her on-screen husbands and ages from 20 to 65 as she walks down the aisle seven times. Her seven husbands range from veterans like Naseeruddin Shah to Irrfan,Annu Kapoor,John Abraham and relatively young actors like Neil Nitin Mukesh and Naseers son Vivaan.

are gem out of top Indian-American novelist Ruskin Bond’s short story,Susanna’s Seven Husbands.

It was a four-page story that I asked him to expand into a 400-page novel. Since he had written the story I wanted his conception of the characters and characterisations and the nuances. Bond,who does not even use a typewriter,wrote out the book,chapter-by-chapter and sent it to me and I would read it every night, said Vishal,who is always in search of unusual themes.

To give the film a global touch,Bharadwaj got renowned international screenplay writer,Matthew Robbins to work with him on the script.

One might wonder why Susanna did not go in for a divorce. But then that is what sets Susanna apart. She is like the little girl who instead of changing lanes when she saw a ferocious dog in the usual path she took to school,shot the dog dead. That should describe Susanna’s thinking, remarked the director.

According to Vishal,if there was anyone who could play this part it was Priyanka Chopra. Priyanka is a very fine actor. She’s intelligent,hardworking,and the rapport she and I share is the kind where I don’t have to express what I want in words.

Priyanka,whose look has intrigued the audience,says that getting under the skin was nerve- wrecking at times. I had to look and behave as a 37-year-old on my very first day of shoot. That was the phase I was married to Irrfan. It was a difficult age to play. In fact,every time I would go on the set I would discover something and say ‘Oh this too can happen’, said Chopra,adding that the kind of wickedness and black comedy in 7 Khoon.. has never been seen before on screen.

As for the intimate scenes and lip-locks in the film,the spunky actress just waves away the queries. I am a married woman in the film. And isn’t there always intimacy in marriage? And when you are doing a scene that the director has conceptualised,you just follow him, said Priyanka revealing that she made herself very comfortable with all her co-stars,feeling the most compatible with John,while Neil and she chatted a lot,learnt a lot from Irrfan and had a lot of fun working with Alex,the Russian actor.

She is the best amongst her contemporaries,and when you are working with an actress like that you don’t have to worry about the basics. You only work on the nuances,and you can almost achieve 100 per cent of what you set out to. When I showed Shah Rukh Khan the film’s rushes,he said she is a shero! said Bhardwaj.

Meanwhile this complex story has been given an Adult certificate by the Censors,but Vishal is not perturbed. Thankfully there have been no cuts. Whether I have made films I never let any certificate affect my thinking. I do whatever I have to do and never compromise on that, he said.

We were sure of the A certificate. But if you are telling a great story it will still touch hearts and reach out to people, added Chopra.

As for his next,the director said that once again it would most likely be based on a book. It could be an adaptation of Shakespeare,another story by Ruskin,or the screen adaptation of Chetan Bhagat’s Two States-The Story Of My Marriage with Shah Rukh Khan, he said. But as of now he is curious to know the audience reaction to 7 Khoon Maaf.

Unusual Love Stories

* Baseraa (1981)
It is a story of two sisters,Sharda (Raakhee) and Nima (Rekha). Both get married to businessmen. When Nimas husband dies,Sharda loses her mental balance and is moved to a mental hospital.

When she returns home after treatment,she is shocked to see her widowed sister in a colourful sari and sindoor. The movie takes a turn when she finds out that Nima has actually got married to her businessman husband,Balraj Kohli (Shashi Kapoor).

* Arth (1982)
Arth portrays the trials of a women (Shabana Azmi),who is in search of her identity after being betrayed by her filmmaker husband (Kulbhushan Kharbanda),who leaves her for an actress (Smita Patil).

* Lamhe (1991)
Viren (Anil Kapoor) falls in love with Pallavi (Sridevi) but is left heartbroken as she loves and marries someone else. She delivers a baby girl. When the girl grows up,she looks exactly like her mother and Viren starts liking her and even falls in love with her,though she is young enough to be his daughter.

* Fire (1996)
It is a story about two married women played by Shabana Azmi and Nandita Das,who after being neglected by their husbands,gets into an intimate physical relationship with each other.

* Ek Chhotisi Love Story (2002)
It is a story of a 15 year old,played by,Aditya Seal,and a 26-year-old women,played by Manisha Koirala. Aditya spies on Manisha who resides opposite him,using a telescope. His hobby turns into an infatuation and soon he finds himself in love with her.

* Nishabd (2007)
It depicts a love story between a 60-year-old married man,played by Amitabh Bachchan and Jiah Khan,the 18-year-old friend of her daughter. Society disapproves,and the love story ends,Jiah leaves for her hometown in Australia,while Amitabh Bachchan lives with her memories.

Compiled by Onkar Kulkarni