Bhardwaj,
best known for his Bollywood adaptations of the Shakespearean tragedies
“Othello” and “Macbeth,” is now wooing Indian audiences with a dark thriller
about a woman accused of murdering her seven husbands.
“7 Khoon
Maaf” (7 Murders Forgiven), based on a short story by writer Ruskin Bond,
opened in India on Friday after its premiere at the Berlin Film Festival.
Bhardwaj,
50, spoke to Reuters about making a film with a “negative” heroine in a film
industry that rarely sees female protagonists.

“I
thought it was such an unusual, interesting and intriguing story. The common
man in me thought why would someone have seven husbands and then kill all of
them. The basic concept was so compelling, that I thought if I can feel so
excited about it, everyone will.
“In fact,
when we were discussing the marketing and promotion of the film, everyone told
me you are revealing everything in the title — we promise you seven delicious
murders. If it were me and I had to choose a film about the life of, say, Swami
Vivekananda and a film that had seven murders, I would watch the latter.”

“First, when Ruskin wrote it, he added some wickedness to it and when Matthew
(Robbins) and I wrote the screenplay, we made it even more wicked. It’s the
kind of wickedness that you know this person is going to die in the next five
minutes, and everyone else but him knows it — that’s the thing, you have fun in
that knowledge.”

“Yes,
we don’t make heroine-oriented films. People tell you straightaway — don’t make
it, it won’t make that kind of money. But I never bother about that. Also, I
think women are stronger than men. Men are physically stronger but internally
women are strong. If you see grandmothers in our houses, they dominate the
entire household and it is the men who look cowered down. I also think women
can manipulate better.
“Lady
Macbeth is a prime example of that manipulative behavior. They are also more
complicated than men — they live by the heart, men live by the head. And the
more complicated your character is, the better it is for a filmmaker.”

“No, I
wasn’t apprehensive at all because I knew what I was making. But people around
me wanted me to try gimmicks like have one star play all seven husbands. But I
didn’t listen.”

“I
also wanted to react on the Babri Masjid demolition because it was the most
unfortunate incident in our modern history. India changed that day. If the
government couldn’t protect a masjid (Mosque) how can they protect the common
man? No one had reacted to this incident in mainstream cinema before.”

“Yes.
Whatever I feel about politics, society and religion, I say through my films
because that’s the best way to do it.”

“It’s
easier to do that in these films. If I make a film only on the Babri Masjid, no
one will come to watch it. It is better you camouflage these things under the
guise of entertainment.”