‘7 Khoon Maaf’

Vishal Bharadwaj’s fetish for big screen adaptations of books and plays is well-known. Continuing with what he is best at, the multi-faceted filmmaker is bringing on screen Friday “Susanne’s Seven Husbands”, which has Priyanka Chopra as a sinister woman who knocks off her husbands one after another.

The film is based on Ruskin Bond’s “Susanne’s Seven Husbands” and tracks the story of a beautiful young girl Susanna Anna-Marie Johannes (Priyanka) who ends up tying the knot seven times following untimely and mysterious deaths of her hapless husbands.

And due to strange circumstances, Susanna becomes the prime suspect.

Produced by UTV Spotboy and Bharadwaj himself, it stars Neil Nitin Mukesh, John Abraham, Irrfan Khan, Naseeruddin Shah, Annu Kapoor and Russian actor Aleksandr Dyachenko. Naseer’s son Vivaan also plays one of the husbands in the thriller.

In the film, Priyanka’s character ages from 20 years to 65. The first story titled “Adamkhor Major” has Neil playing the role of Major Edwin Rodrigues. Susanna falls for him as he looks dashing in uniform; he’s however a bit old for her and likes to give orders.

Good looking guys are Susanna’s weakness.

Post-Edwin’s death, Susanna decides to marry Jimmy, played by John, as she is floored by his good looks and musical talent. She, however, doesn’t have any idea what’s in store for her. This story is called “Ek Duje Ke Liye”.

But Jimmy also dies and then enters poet Wasiullah Khan a.k.a. Musafir played by Irrfan. Impressed by his poetry, Susanna marries him too. Although during the day he is gentle, as the dark dawns upon, he becomes something else. This story is called “Mussafir Hoon Yaaron”.

“Amar Prem” sees Susanna falling for Nicolai Vronsky, played by Russian actor Aleksandr Dyachenko, from Moscow but this marriage doesn’t last long as Vronsky dies too.

Following the death of Susanna’s previous husbands, the police start taking keen interest in the case. So police officer Keemat Lal enters Susanna’s life. He not only persuades her to marry him but also makes it impossible for her to say no. Their story is titled “Pyaar Ki Keemat”.

After the death of Keemat, Susanna is attracted to Dr. Modhusudon Tarafdar. Titled “Mashroom Da”, as the story progresses Susanne is now suffering from melancholy and her husband Naseer puts her on mushroom only diet.

The seventh husband is played by Vivaan, but the story has been kept under wraps.

For her role, Priyanka had to go through seven different age makeovers, for which prosthetics had to play a vital part.

Bharadwaj had hired Hollywood special make-up effects artist Greg Cannom of “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” fame to create those seven different looks.

It is also being said that to make Priyanka look like a 65-year-old woman, the make-up team used Priyanka’s grandmother’s photo for ideas.