Suzanna... Sultana....Sunaina

रोज उठते धुवें की कालक से उस तरफ आसमा का एक टुकड़ा सारा दिन सिया रहता हैं

उसके नीचे न कोई सजदा करे. सर झुका के जमी पे रखने से अब खुदा पाँव खीच लेता हैं

'7 Khoon Maaf' owes all its defining punches to Gulzar. So is becoming the case with VB.

May it be Baban's spontaneity in Ishquiya or Wasiullua khan aka Musafir's poetry. In a way, Gulzar and VB are complementary.. or else Chopras and Johars employ it for remoantics and tragedies of rich and sensitives. But somehow Vishal gives a outlet to Gulzar's genious is multitude of situations. No wonder Gulzar calls it the priceless association.

Gulzarsaab may not have the wherewital to make a movie but he is adapting his pennmanship to making some of the urdu words immortal and still relevant. Thanks to VB for making it happen.

I felt story is so representative of story of India. Hangover of Anglo Indian, hippie culture of 70s, then the burning paradise, affair with Russia. And Ruskin bond penned it down from a vantage point of detached outsider, somewhere from his cottage in the hills of kumau. Of Priyanka's, Suzanna ..sultana .. Sunaina, her last affair is very interesting.

What so subtle by rusty is actnetuated in the way VB weaves it. The lyrics and dialogs stand out and you notice how elegantly each scene is made natural and yet anything but pedestrian.

When sultana joins in with her couplet...

Irrfan exclaims, "mukarkar... mukarar..."

when sultana asks "वो कौन हैं?" who is this mukarar?

Hemiles and says, "हाहाहा.... आपके चचा ! " Your uncle.

that was fabulaous...

Vivaan as 'sugar' is okay in the narratior role and got a baritone that will narrate many tales to come. Yah its in genes. We are now getting a great team of like minded supremely talented people coming together... VB, Rekha bhardwaj, Gulzar saab, Naseer, vivaan, konkana.

Annu kapoor's first and second act steals the rare laughs of the movie. Movie is longer than the average pot boiler. Given the age we live with attention span of butterfly, most movies stick to sachet version of stories and game plan is to survive 2 weeks and break-even.

Here VB takes the artisitc freedom and deft editing to portray his gang of well sketched characters. One tend to see the scorsesee-like apetite to take time to carve out the characters, gives them enough flesh and blood, without worrying too much abnout the fearture length...

Good casting is job half done. Like Siddhu says, a good lather is half the shave! The forever nervous Neil Nitin Mukesh looks solid in his shoes for the first time. Irrfaan can now slip into any of VB's stories. Nobody would have recited the poetry and those lines the way Irrfan did. well of course except Gulzar.

कूडे करकट के ढेरियोंमें अभी ठंडी लाशों के सर सुलगते हैं

टांगो बाहों की हड्डियों के लिए लड़ते रहते हैं भूके चोपाय

जिसने भी पहले दात मारे हैं हड्डी बोटी का हक़ उसी का हैं

मजहबो वाले पूछते हैं अब किसने पहले कुदाल मारी थी

कोई कहता हैं एक मस्जिद थी कोई कहता हैं एक मंदर था

सर झुका के जमी पे रखने से अब खुदा पाँव खीच लेता हैं

उसको भी अब यकीन नहीं आता इस जमी पर उसी का एक घर था.