What women want?

The release of ‘Saat khoon maaf’ is timely with the commencement of World Women’s Day or probably Vishal Bhardwaj wanted it that way. The movie, an adaptation of Ruskin Bond’s novel, explores the mind of a woman through its protagonist Suzanna and throws us the query, ’what a woman wants from any relationship?’. Suzanna goes through seven relationships and yet ends as a vapid soul yearning for more. It’s that poignant and perennial dilemma that many Suzannas face in life and if they end up bloodying their hands who’s to be blamed?

Vishal/Bond took to surrealism to essay his character but it’s not tad unrealistic for in reality many will gladly opt for it if given a chance. So what did Suzanna want? She goes on a killing spree every time she finds out that her choice is wrong. Her picks ranged from the mundane to the cavalier to the artistic to the poetic to the nerd to the puerile. Yet she couldn’t come up with one that can balm her soul. She ends her quest in the Holy Son in who she hopes to find the solace that evaded her six times.

Suzanna is not a metaphor but the real woman amongst us who is in a never ending quest for unconditional love. She is used and abused every day and yet left wanting by a misogynist society who is still at a loss when it comes to giving. The callous patriarch has invented ways to wallow in kitsch while he conveniently relegates all trouble to her. Working woman is expected to run the house and office with a panache that can put a CEO to shame.

The patriarchs are given the unique privilege of ogling her without the risks of chastise and shame as she is state property and of public use. They are followed, visually undressed and raped many a time before being abused in person. The ‘haven’ of family is no exception wherein she is tormented conveniently and expected to perform even in the oddest of situations. Her plight deepens in a joint family where she is ‘worshipped’ as the many armed devi.

A tacit moral code follows her from childhood saving her from any derailments keeping her chaste and pure for the denouement called marriage. Even after watchful eyes follow her lifelong policing her in and out. The winner is the one who passes all these fire tests and end a loving and giving martyr. No wonder that we still worship a legendary Rama and earn for a Sita in every woman and dream a Ayodhya. The indelible tattoo of Ramayan is proof that it’s a genetic defect that will haunt our posterity for aeons to come. The untethered love of Krishna holds only less water in our daily lives as we want less of Radhas than Sitas.

So Suzanna you have no other choice but to fight it tooth and nail until you get what you want. You have to draw blood to be heard. Should we shift your celeb day from March 8^th to Friday the 13^th?

   

Sub texts in Suzanna’s tale

Saat Khoon Maaf is a poignant tale of humanism as seen through the eyes of a love lorn woman. The story probes the psyche of six males strategically placed in different parts of the globe yet connected in a unique chauvinistic way transcending the differences. It takes us in to the dark bleak world of the human behaviour and the extend of selfishness that the human (male) mind can come up with.

 Major Edwin Rodriques (Niel Mukesh), her first hubby, is cavalier and an achiever, winning even the ‘Paramveer Chakra’, but at the expense of his complex riddled mind. He personifies the mundane male with all his insecurities who is juxtaposed to his achievements paradoxically. He is unable to tackle the ghosts of his mind and easily falls prey to it. The portrayal subtly reminds us that the real achiever is the one who conquers himself before he sets forth for the outside conquests. No accolades can replace the victory on your self.

Jamshed Singh Rathod a.k.a jimmy (John Abraham) is the hedonist who incinerates his life in illusion and delusion. He is the escapist who eludes reality and tend to submerge all in a chimerical world. Relations are volatile here and to inject reality in to him takes some true grit than put him to sleep as Suzanna does. Jimmy showcases the abysmal levels dependence can take you to.  Suzanna contemplates his redemption briefly before taking the final step, as she sees the futility of such a human being.

Wasiullah Khan (Irrfan Khan) is her third muse whose intellectualism is juxtaposed with his sadomasochism. The sublime romanticism of the poet masterly hides his revulsive side giving an insight into the alter ego of creative writers and how it contradicts our very beliefs. It will not be subversive if I accuse that this portrayal has a shade of Islamophobia which has crept in knowingly or unknowingly and only Ruskin Bond can answer that. The hideous face of our many a writer can be as blasphemous as this but the narrow subtext of religious bigotry make it knave.

Nicolai Vronsky (Aleksandr Dyachenko) parodies the intercontinental truces which are cleverly scuttled by vested political interests. His tryst with Suzanna embodies similar inescapable ambivalence that has become one with his real self. He is neither faithful to his family in Russia nor to his new found interest in India making him as ludicrous as the fragile international friendships.

 Keemat Lal (Annu Kapoor) is that repugnant worm of our society feeding on its ethics and morale. He is that commoner we encounter every day in the corridors of bureaucracy waiting for an opportunity to feed on the hapless.

 Dr. Modhusudhon Tarafdar (Naseeruddin Shah) is the only character that appears bit contrived in the whole drama. His brainy endeavours could have been used to scan a psyche revealing some hither to unknown innards of the male mind. This character falls flat for want of more innovation and less haste in his making.

Wading from one relation to the other Suzanna’s odyssey makes it obvious that attaining unconditional love is near to impossible in a woman’s life time. Her seventh choice is also a trial that hopefully might materialise in to a fruitful one as the final waltz with the Holy Son symbolizes. The story demands a sequel essaying her tryst with holiness and its trappings and whether the holy institution is really equipped to deliver.