Saat Khoon Maaf: 10 Things You Didn’t Know About The Film

Besides her penchant for love and her unfortunate husbands, here are 10 Things You Did Not Know About ‘7 Khoon Maaf’. (Update: Check Out 7 Khoon Maaf Review By Komal Nahta)

1. The film went through a number of name changes during its production and for international film festivals. The makers went with Seven, Ek Batta Saat, 7 Sins Forgiven and Seven Murders Forgiven before finally settling down on ‘7 Khoon Maaf’.

2. South Indian actor Mohanlal was initially approached for the role of officer Keemat Lal. After Mohanlal backed out of the role, Annu Kapoor filled in his shoes.

3. For Priyanka Chopra’s make-up as a 65-year old woman, the make-up team used pictures of her mother and grandmother to make her old age look as genuine as possible.

4. Vishal Bhardwaj had approached many big Bollywood stars for the role of the seven husbands. Many turned him down. But Vishal is more than happy with his final casting and adds that if Priyanka Chopra had refused to do Susanna’s  role, he would have cast another actress. “The film is my first love,” explains the maverick director.

5. The song Darling is, in reality, inspired by a Russian folk song, Kalinka.

6. Ruskin Bond’s Susanna’s Seven Husbands was a four-page short story. On Vishal Bhardwaj’s persuasion, Ruskin Bond expanded it into a 200-page novel, based on which he finally wrote the script of ‘7 Khoon Maaf’.

7. Ruskin Bond still writes in longhand. After writing a chapter on each of the husbands, he would mail the handwritten story to Vishal Bhardwaj (who was shooting Kaminey with Priyanka Chopra and Shahid Kapoor at that time) and keep a photo copy with himself. Vishal would then burn the midnight lamp in the middle of shooting for ‘Kaminey’ and “pore over the story with the enthusiasm of a child”.

8. Ruskin Bond makes a guest appearance in the film. So does Konkona Sensharma.

9. Vishal Bhardwaj plans to release a special book that will include Ruskin Bond’s original short story, Bond’s expanded novel and the screenplay of ‘7 Khoon Maaf’, on 19^th February.

10. The three-time Oscar winner Greg Cannom has done the make-up for Priyanka Chopra’s various ages and seven different looks in the film. The Hollywood special make-up effects artist has worked on films like Hannibal, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Watchmen.