Saat Khoon Maaf... not really

FR: Vishal Bharadwaj has underestimated my intelligence and my ability to count. I am seriously offended.

This is a smart movie, made for a dumb audience. The theme is art house, but the treatment is mainstream. I'm sorry, I'm insulting mainstream by calling this movie mainstream, it has been dumbed down that much. I mean, the murders are literally counted out in the end, to give the viewer a recap (in case you fell asleep mid-way). WE CAN COUNT Vishal Bharadwaj!! Arghhhh!

This movie could have been a dark brooding masterpiece. It could have been an abstract work, that allowed the intelligent viewer to make his own inferences and fill in the gaps by imagination. But no! Everything has been literally spelled out, and worse, spelled out again! Worst of all, the movie employs the most cliched reasons to justify the murders of the erring husbands. Not to play spoiler, but to give an example, a "rock star" WILL fall prey to drugs and lie to his wife. Oh jeez, really? It is very easy to predict the reason why Suzanna is going to kill every new husband. That really killed it for me.

I'm not going to go into the details of the plot because it will definitely play spoiler. It will suffice to say that Suzanna is in search of love and every single time she gets married, she finds a reason to kill her new husband. "Unlucky in Love" could have been an equally good title for this movie. Is she a bad person? Are her murders justified? Despite all my ranting and raving, I suggest you watch the movie to find out. There are a few good dialogues and the acting throughout is excellent.

Where this movie falls short is plausibility. Either Bharadwaj could have chosen to make a completely abstract movie requiring all suspension of disbelief. Or he could have made a completely realistic movie with real, relatable characters. Unfortunately, he's tried to get a mix of both and hasn't succeeded in getting either. Suzanna's character is well-etched, but she too confuses at times by arbitrary behavior. Special word of mention for Neil Nitin Mukesh. Finally, he can act! Most people found Irfan Khan's performance to be the strongest in the movie and I would have to agree with that.

And what the hell is Konkona Sen Sharma doing in a two bit role? Yeah, she's there.

Note: This post has also been uploaded on http://letstalkfilms.wordpress.com

Image courtesy: http://www.koimoi.com/komal-nahta/7-khoon-maaf-saat-khoon-maaf-preview/