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7 Khoon Maaf tells the story of an Anglo-Indian woman, Susanna Anna-Marie Johannes (Priyanka Chopra), who murders all her husbands. Susanna tries to find love, but six of her seven husbands have a flaw which proves fatal. The killings (and her yearning for love) are explained by the loss of her mother at a young age. The story is told by a young forensic pathologist, Arun, (Vivaan Shah) to his wife (Konkona Sen Sharma). Arun has watched Susanna since their childhood, and has a secret crush on her. He owes his life to her; she funded his education, making him what he is today. Arun tells his wife that Susanna has committed suicide, leaving him a note congratulating him on his marriage. The doctor must now confirm that the body found is Susanna's. Arun is unable to overcome his grief over her death and pours out his heart to his wife, who listens patiently.
Critic Consensus
Critical reception for 7 Khoon Maaf is sharply divided, with scores ranging from 30 to 70 and an overall mixed-to-moderate sentiment. Priyanka Chopra's central performance is the most consistently singled-out positive, with several critics awarding the film extra credit on that basis alone. A number of reviewers also found the story engaging and the film a worthwhile, distinctive cinematic experience. However, detractors — including some who admire director Vishal Bhardwaj's previous work — found the film disengaging, tonally uneven, and a step below his earlier output, with limited mainstream appeal.
11 reviews · 6 positive · 4 mixed · 1 negative
AI-generated summary of 11 critic reviews · may contain errors
Report inaccuracyCritic Reviews (11)
"Serious, sensitive and stirring, 7 Khoon Maaf is a whole new cinematic experience. Watch how Indian cinema is metamorphosing into something more substantial and glocal."Read full review ↗
"'Saat Khoon Maaf' succeeds in engaging you at every point. Given a choice, darrrlings, I will take a Vishal Bhardwaj film with all its flaws everytime, because it is a cinematic experience in the true sense of the word : this film gives us a story, characters, and an urge to ask that age-old question-- and then what happened?"Read full review ↗
"Using tools like newspaper headlines, radio announcements and television bulletins to root this mostly surreal film in reality, Vishal Bhardwaj delivers his oddest film yet, that is also sadly his weakest."Read full review ↗
"I exit the theatre tiptoeing gingerly through treacley blood, past the fallen corpse of my expectations. That, ladies and gents, is Susanna's seventh casualty. And it's the only one that hurts."Read full review ↗
"All in all, no words can fully express the wicked experience of 7 Khoon Maaf. Go catch it for some 'bloody' good performances and a great storyline."Read full review ↗
"I know, the next time you miss your husband: you'd unlock the gun. Reload the bullets. Aim again! Sorry for that poor Internet joke. But yeah, you needn't miss this partly captivating movie either."Read full review ↗
"A captivating story and excellent performances make 7 KHOON MAAF a bloody good film. Make sure you attend the weddings."Read full review ↗
"On the whole, 7 KHOON MAAF is a dark film that has its share of positives and negatives. However, the film will meet with diverse reactions - some will fancy it, while some will abhor it. The film will appeal more to the critics/columnists and the festival circuit. However, it is not the kind of cinema that will set the box-office ablaze. Ideally, I would've given a two star rating for this film, but I am going ahead with an extra star for Priyanka Chopra's sterling performance!"Read full review ↗
"This unfortunately, is a disappointing giving from the Vishal Bhardwaj house. For the most part 7 Khoon Maaf fails to live up to the otherwise exquisite and honestly different genre of films that Vishal always tends to throw our way. For a director who has promised to be different, this is awfully lackluster and disengaging. You can't help but question if, in fact, Bhardwaj has lost the spark he once possessed because this film cannot ask for maafi from us."Read full review ↗
"On the whole, 7 Khoon Maaf is for the elite audience in the big cities only. The general masses will reject it. Given its good recoveries from non-theatrical sources, it may not entail huge losses but its theatrical business will be far from exciting because of its highly class appeal. Distributors who have bought the film's rights at fancy prices would stand to lose."Read full review ↗
Cast & Crew
Cast
- Vivaan Shah · Arun Kumar
- Konkona Sen Sharma · Nandini
- Neil Nitin Mukesh · Major Edwin Rodriques
- Usha Uthup · Maggie Aunty (Maid)
- Harish Khanna · Galib Khan
- Priyanka Chopra Jonas · Susanna Anna-Marie Johannes
- Radhika Arora · Nandini's friend (Cameo)
- John Abraham · Jamshed Singh Rathod
- Annu Kapoor · Inspector Keemat Lal
- Shashi Malviya · Goonga Chacha
- Irrfan Khan · Wasiullah Khan
- Aleksandr Dyachenko · Nicolai Vronsky
- Ruskin Bond · Church Father (Cameo)
- Naseeruddin Shah · Dr Modhusudhon Tarafdar
Director
Screenplay
Music
Cinematography
Producer
Editing
Details
- Release Date
- 18 February 2011
- Runtime
- 147 min
- Language
- Hindi
User Ratings & Reviews
2 ratings from the community















