Mar 01, 2011 01:52 PM
13709 Views
(Updated Mar 01, 2011 03:39 PM)
Can killing be justified? Well very debatable. A nation kills someone when that person is considered to be too unfit to be a citizen. Fanatics kill because for them that’s their Almighty wish. Sometime a person kills himself when he thinks it’s end of the world for him.
People kill their near and dear one for the sake of honor. Though somewhere it is valid and somewhere it is not, still is it justified to kill a patient if there is no hope of his recovery? So in various reasons man kills man, but in all cases the killer has some justifications for his deed and most of the cases rest of the world don’t agree with that and hence people hate a killer.
For a change, Vishal Bharadwaj wanted his main protagonist to be a killer with a cause and he wanted his audience to agree with his justifications. It’s true till now almost in every movie the hero kills the villain and we justify that as good triumphing over evil. But how many times have we witnessed a wife kills her multiple husbands and still have the sympathy of the audience? It is indeed a very risky game plan and the question is did Vishal succeeded this time?
Source:*
The movie is an adoption from Ruskin Bond’s Susanna’s 7 husbands. The challenge was even tougher for Vishal as originally it was a seven pages short story; it is easier to make a movie from an epic rather than from a seven page short story. Matthew Robbins and Vishal Bhardwaj did a good job scripting the movie.
Plot:*
Susanna Anna-Marie Johannes was a daughter of one of the wealthiest man in Pondicherry during the British Raj, her father was so influential that they even had a revolver from the very first lot that ever came to India.After her father’s death she was left alone with her four trusted employees, an aged maid Maggie aunty(Usha Uthup), her butler Ghalib(Harish Khanna), their jockey cum horse caretaker Goonga(Shashi Malviya) and Goonga’s nephew little Arun(Vivaan Shah). Being a loner all she wanted was a little love, which she could not get from any man in her life and that’s why she desperately kept searching for love, respect as a woman, happiness and hence kept changing her husbands. The only way she was different was she did not divorce any of her husbands but killed each of them with the help of her most trusted three employees. A little description about the men in her life:
Edwin Rodrigues**: An ex-army officer who lost one leg during the operation Blue Star. Now as a handicapped person he became very jealous, dominating, angry, violent and when he took away Goonga’s one eye Susanna decided she was not going to tolerate this man anymore in her life and hence killed him.
Jamshed Singh Rathore**: He was a vocalist with full raw talent which impressed Susanna and she decided to marry him. But once she came to know about the truth of her husband that he stole songs composed by his close friend, still she did not hate him, she loved him a lot. He started taking drugs and she tried everything to help him to get out of this habit, but when she realized that she could not do anything rather than seeing him die in front of her eyes for his addiction, she killed him.
Wasiullah Khan**: A poet from Kashmir, she was attracted to a man again. In his sensitiveness she found her love. But alas, in their first night she discovered that he was an animal, just opposite to his public image. By no means could any sane woman stay with such a barbarian and hence she killed him also.
Nicolai Vronsky**: He as a charmer from Russia and instantly she felt in love with him. But he hides some very important facts of his life, firstly he was a Russian spy and secondly he already had a family in Russia. She could not tolerate this betrayal and killed him.
Keemat Lal**: Now she was a manipulator, she needed this police officer who was “laddu” on her for a long time to cover up her sins. She married him. Even Viagra could not keep her with him. Now as a habit, she killed him. Now being Susanna’s husband was the most dangerous thing in the world.
Dr. Modhusudhon Tarafdar**: Modhu Da could not realize that. He came as an angel to save her life and she married him. He was a scientist and he worked on mushrooms. But he had evil intension. He was bankrupt and he eyed on Susanna’s property and hence tried to kill her. His motive was disclosed when mistakenly he killed her butler Ghalib instead of Susanna. Nevertheless, he was killed.
The Seventh Murder*
Vishal very intelligently showed us six murders of her six husbands. And he left it to the audience to decide which was her seventh murder, as the name of the movie suggests. After those six murders Susanna killed herself for the world when the then forensic expert and her sweet little Arun proved that she was death. Lastly she becomes a nun and marries Jesus Christ. The different openions about her seventh sin were, either she kills herself for the world or she marries Jesus to kill him also. But for me the seventh murder was not a murder but for Susanna it was a sin much worst then all the sins. She never had a child because Arun fulfilled that position and if she ever loved someone and if someone did not break her heart, it was her little charming Arun. For Arun she was an angel. For her only, now he has a respectful life in the society. But once in an insane situation, when she was almost a mad woman, she tried to seduce Arun. According to my view, Vishal very intelligently indicated that as the seventh murder. That’s the murder of Susanna’s soul.
Performance**:
Acting: I can’t imagine anyone else in Susanna’s role than Priyanka. She was out of this world. With ease she justified one of the most complicated characters I have ever seen. Hats off to you Piggy Chops, I salute you. As her husbands Neil Nitin Mukesh, John Abraham, Irrfan Khan, Aleksandr Dyachenko, Annu Kapoor, Naseeruddin Shah all justified their characters. The surprise package was Vivaan Shah, the younger son of Naseeruddin as Arun, he was really good and he proves that he carries the gene of the acting legend.
Music**: Was good, not great as per Vishal’s standard. It could have been better.
Cinematography**: Ranjan Palit did an outstanding job. The mystery and suspense of the story is well complimented by some excellent camera work.
Direction**: 8/10, well job done Vishal, the best part of the movie is, it’s not like a gruesome murder mystery but in it’s serious approach Vishal will make you laugh in every scene. This is actually a comedy movie in a different angle, they call it dark comedy. Congratulations Vishal for attempting such a complicated story successfully.
