7 Khoon Maaf (2011-movie) : Bollywood Hindi Film

7 Khoon Maaf Movie Details :

7 Khoon Maaf Movie released internationally as Seven Sins Forgiven, is an 2011 Indian Bollywood neo-noir black comedy drama film directer and co-written / co-producer is Vishal Bhardwaj. The film stars are Priyanka Chopra in the lead role, with Vivaan Shah, Irrfan Khan, Annu Kapoor, Neil Nitin Mukesh, John Abraham, Aleksandr Dyachenko, 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 seven deaths in an unending quest for love.

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 four-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.

Film Shooting started in Kashmir before moving to Coorg, where extensive filming was done.

The film opened on 18 February 2011, to universal critical acclaim, with special praise for Chopra’s performance. Despite the universal critical acclaim, 7 Khoon Maaf underperformed at the box-office. However, according to its producers, it made a profit by earning a total of 33 crore for its box-office run and television-music-home-video rights against a production budget of 15 crore .

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 four nominations, winning two: the Best Actress Critics Award for Chopra and the Best Female Playback Singer for Uthup and Rekha Bhardwaj’s song, “Darling”.

• Directer : Vishal Bhardwaj
• Producer : Ronnie Screwvala,Vishal Bhardwaj
• Screenplay : Matthew Robbins,Vishal Bhardwaj
• Starring : Priyanka Chopra,Neil Nitin Mukesh,John Abraham,Irrfan Khan,Aleksandr Dyachenko,Annu Kapoor,Naseeruddin Shah,Vivaan Shah,Usha Uthup
• Narrater : Vivaan Shah
• Music : Vishal Bhardwaj
• Cinematography : Ranjan Palit
• Editer : A. Sreekar Prasad
• Casting : Honey Trehan
• Production Design : Samir Chanda
• Art Direction : Subrata Chakraborty,Punita Grover
• Costume Design : Payal Saluja
• Makeup Department : Martin Astles,Priyanka Borkar,Tim Jarvis,Danielle Lyn Saunders
• Special Effects : Todd Tucker
• Visual Effects : Wasim Ali,Mukherjee Aniruddha
• Action Directer : Sham Kaushal.Paramjeet Singh
• Production company : UTV Motion Pictures,UTV Spotboy,V.B. Pictures
• Distributer : Mind Blowing Films,Sendi Mutiara Multimedia Sdn. Bhd.,Mind Blowing Films,UTV Communications (UK) Ltd.,Panorama Studios,UTV Motion Pictures
• Genres : Drama,Mystery,Thriller
• Release date : 18 February 2011
• Running time : 147 minutes
• Country : India
• Language : Hindi

7 Khoon Maaf Movie Watch Online :

Star Cast of The Film :

• Priyanka Chopra as a Susanna Anna-Marie Johannes
• Vivaan Shah as a Arun Kumar
• Neil Nitin Mukesh as a Major Edwin Rodriques (1st husband)
• John Abraham as a Jimmy Stetson / Jamshed Singh Rathore (2nd husband)
• Irrfan Khan as a Wasiullah Khan (3rd husband)
• Konkona Sen Sharma as a Nandini Kumar
• Alexander Diachenko as a Nicolai Vronsky (4th Husband) (as Alexander Dyachenko)
• Shashi Malviya as a Goonga
• Annu Kapoor as a Inspector Keemat Lal (5th Husband)
• Naseeruddin Shah as a Dr. Modhusudhon Tarafdar (6th Husband)
• Usha Uthup as a Maggie – Maid
• Manuj Bhaskar as a Department Head
• Harish Khanna as a Ghalib
• Ayush Tandon as a Young Arun
• Sanjay Verma as a Police Inspector
• Timothy P. Jarvis as a Taj
• Narendra Kumar as a School Teacher
• Satish Sharma as a Jimmy’s Manager
• Bharat Kaul as a Film Producer
• Benjamin Gilani as a Major Edwin’s Senior
• Mohan Kapur as a MC (as Mohan Kapoor)
• Vidushi Mehra as a Chetna

Story of The Film :

After the passing of his Pondicherry-born mentor, Susanna, Mumbai-based Dr. Arun Kumar Singh narrates his story to his wife, Nalini. With photographs from an old album that he has never shared with anyone, he informs her as to how Susanna caught him stealing; got him to quit his job & enrolled in a Panchgani school, as well as arranged for further education in St. Petersburg. While Susanna herself searched for true love and her marriages with six deceased men – including the abusive Major Edwin Rodrigies; drug-addicted and womanizer guitarist-singer Jamshed Singh Rathore; impotent and abusive Mohammad Wasiullah Khan; bigamist/spy Nicolai Vronski; Inspector Keemat Lal; and Dr. Modhusodon Tarafdar – men who influenced her life, broke her heart – and met with sudden and mysterious deaths.

Production :
Development :

The idea for 7 Khoon Maaf came when Ruskin Bond sent his book of Short Story collection to Vishal Bhardwaj. He was intrigued by a four-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”. 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. 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. 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”.

Film Casting :

Priyanka Chopra was Bhardwaj’s original choice for the role of Susanna after he worked with the actress in Kaminey: He said that Chopra “is the finest actor of her generation right now… As a director I had so much trust on her that I felt that no one else can essay this role as brilliantly as she would do”. Mohanlal was cast as one of Susanna’s husbands in the film; however, he left the project to concentrate on Malayalam films. The actor was replaced by Annu Kapoor in the role of Inspector Keemat Lal. Other actors in the film were John Abraham, Naseeruddin Shah, Neil Nitin Mukesh and Vivaan Shah. Directors Karan Johar and Imtiaz Ali were approached to play two of the seven husbands, but they reportedly turned down the offer. Usha Uthup was cast as Susanna’s maid in the film. Konkona Sen Sharma was confirmed for a cameo appearance.

During production, the film underwent two name changes. The project was initially titled Seven, which became Ek Bataa Saat and finally 7 Khoon Maaf. In the film, Chopra’s character ages from 20 to 45, and prosthetic makeup was used for her looks at different ages. Bhardwaj hired Hollywood special makeup effects artist Greg Cannom, who did the makeup for 2008’s The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, to create seven looks for the character. Chopra found the most challenging period was that of the 65-year-old woman. The actress said, “prosthetics had to play a heavy part but I’m happy that I pushed myself as the result is really fab. I had to be very careful of not doing things that would damage the make-up”. To make Chopra look authentic, the makeup team used Chopra’s mother’s and grandmother’s photos to create her look. She had to gain five kg weight to fit her aging character.

Film Shooting :

Film Shooting Started in March 2010 with Chopra and Irrfan Khan in Kashmir. Locations included Shalimar Bagh and Dal Lake in Srinagar. The cast and crew were provided with two-tier security coverage by the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and the Jammu & Kashmir Police, due to unrest in the valley. The film was also shot in Gulmarg, Delhi[30][31] and Coorg, which included extensive shooting in the forests. Other locations were Puducherry, Mumbai, Hyderabad and in Russia. During filming Chopra was restricted from eating and drinking while donning the prosthetic makeup (which took five hours to apply).

7 Khoon Maaf Movie Songs / Music :

The film’s score and songs were composed by Vishal Bhardwaj, with lyrics by Gulzar. Its soundtrack contains seven songs and two reprise versions. The soundtrack was digitally released via Ovi (Nokia) internet service on 24 January 2011, and via CD on 25 January 2011. The song “Darling” is based on the Russian folk song “Kalinka”, and contains several Russian words (one of Susanna’s husbands was Russian). “Kalinka” is credited on the album cover. “Tere Liye”, sung by Suresh Wadkar, was not used in the film.

• “Darling (inspired by “Kalinka”)” – Usha Uthup, Rekha Bhardwaj
• “Bekaraan” – Vishal Bhardwaj
• “O’ Mama” – KK, Clinton Cerejo
• “Awaara” – Master Saleem
• “Tere Liye” – Suresh Wadkar
• “Dil Dil Hai” – Suraj Jagan
• “Yeshu” – Rekha Bhardwaj
• “Doosri Darling” – Usha Uthup, Rekha Bhardwaj, Clinton Cerejo, Francois Castellino
• “O’ Mama (Acoustic)” – KK

“Darling (inspired by “Kalinka”)” Full Video Song :

• Singer – Usha Uthup & Rekha Bhardwaj
• Music – Vishal Bhardwaj
• Lyrics – Aditi Singh Sharma & Gulzar
• Studio – UTV Spotboy & VB Pictures
• Music Label – Sony Music Entertainment India Pvt. Ltd.

“Bekaraan” Full Video Song :

• Singer – Vishal Bhardwaj
• Music – Vishal Bhardwaj
• Lyrics – Gulzar
• Studio – UTV Spotboy & VB Pictures
• Music Label – Sony Music Entertainment India Pvt. Ltd.

The soundtrack received positive reviews from music critics. The Indo-Asian News Service gave the album 3.5 stars (out of 5): “Bharadwaj has composed a wonderful album that is not a clone of his previous work. It exudes freshness and is worth listening. However, the songs would not have achieved zenith without Gulzar’s lovely lyrics. The team has done it again”. Bollywood Hungama rated the album a 3 (out of 5): “7 Khoon Maaf is a good album with a couple of definite hits, couple of skip worthy ones and the remaining have the potential to grow. Since 7 Khoon Maaf is not a routine Bollywood affair, it can’t be expecting a quick pick at the stands from Day One”. The Hindustan Times noted that the soundtrack takes the listener through a variety of moods: “Bhardwaj has certainly succeeded in adding new sounds to his catalogue. He continues to evade Bollywood monotony with this soundtrack an innovative effort.”

Marketing and release :

The film’s preview and trailer were released on 24 December 2010 to a positive response from critics, who praised the whole presentation and Chopra’s dialogues particularly: “duniya ki har biwi ne kabhie na kabhie toh yeh zarur sochega, ki main apne pati se hamesha hamesha ke liye chutkara kaise paun” (“Every wife in the entire world must have once in her lifetime thought of how to get rid of her husband forever”).

Following the preview-trailer launches, Chopra promoted the film by appearing with seven men (dressed as bridegrooms) at the Radio Mirchi FM studio. The succession of marriages and funerals was illustrated at a promotional event for the film, where Chopra appeared as a Catholic bride in a wedding gown holding a bouquet. A short time later she reappeared as a widow in mourning, for her husbands’ funerals.

Emphasizing the film’s theme, Chopra introduced a “seven ways to lose your Valentine” press kit for reporters at a Valentines Day promotion. The kit contained a rope, a syringe, a knife, a bottle of poison, a sachet of potassium cyanide, an ice pick and a blister pack of Viagra, which was based on Susanna’s way to kill her husbands in the film. In February 2011, a book entitled Susanna’s Seven Husbands was released by Penguin Books as a collector’s edition including the novella, the short story and the film’s screenplay.

The film was screened at the 61st Berlin International Film Festival as part of its world premiere in the festival’s Panorama section. At the Friedrichstadt Palace (a Berlin theatre) an audience of some 2,500 people watched the film on the festival’s final evening, giving the director and the nine cast and crew members present a standing ovation when they appeared onstage.

7 Khoon Maaf was originally scheduled for release on 21 January 2011, but was postponed a month to avoid conflicting with Dhobi Ghat. The film was released on 18 February 2011 on about 700 screens across India. Reliance Home Entertainment released 7 Khoon Maaf on DVD in March 2011 across all regions in a one-disc NTSC format. The Blu-ray and Video CD versions were released at the same time.

7 Khoon Maaf Movie Review :

This film review are Mostly Positive from Critics, IMDB Public Reviewing site give 6.1 Star Out Of 10 Star with Reviewers are 5498.

Its a great movie for mature audience!!!Vishal bharadwaj has done so much study into all the different stories,that every murder seems acceptable!!!Most of the audience, did’nt even get who the 7th khoon was!!And thats the best part,the answer is quiet easy,but yet it compels u to think who was it,at the end?She newer got love from her first 6 husbands,but the 7th was the last option she could turn to!!!Wait till the end to find the answer yourself!!Great direction and awesome cinematography!!!Something Different in Bollywood!!Keep it up Vishal Bharadwaj,looking forward for more such intense movies!!!Go for it!!!

Critics Rating by Taran Adarsh, from Bollywood Hungama give 3 star out of 5 Star.

7 Khoon Maaf Movie Box Office Collection :

INDIA

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