Ruskin Bond admits not liking parts of '7 Khoon Maaf' script

Author Ruskin Bond on Thursday admitted that Bollywood director Vishal Bharadwaj's reel adaptation of 'Susanna's Seven Husbands' in "7 Khoon Maaf" wasn't always to his liking.

The Priyanka Chopra-starrer released in 2011.

"We did talk about it when Vishal Bharadwaj made the 'Blue Umbrella'. In the other story Susanna's Seven Husbands, I actually helped with the script and that changed considerably, not always to my liking," Bond, 82, told a packed audience at the Tata Steel Kolkata Literary Meet here.

Bhardwaj is an ardent admirer of Bond to such an extent that the "Haider" director bought a cottage beside Bond's in Mussoorie, Uttarakhand.

"Fortunately Vishal Bharadwaj now has a cottage next to mine in Mussoorie. So when he is up in town, I throw stones on his roof and if he is not being helpful when making films (from Bond's books) the stones get bigger," Bond said, sending the crowd into a fit of laughter.

Besides "7 Khoon Maaf", Bharadwaj has made a film based on Bond's novel 'The Blue Umbrella'.

Bharadwaj had also acquired a couple of more stories from him, including 'Mr. Oliver's Diary', which revolves around a school teacher.

"There was 'A Flight of Pigeons' which Shyam Benegal filmed as "Junoon" and was very true to the story. So I have been lucky in a way. But sometimes a film can have too many changes. You can be disappointed at times in what finally comes on screen," Bond continued.

Talking about his latest offering -- 'Death Under the Deodars', where his protagonist Miss Ripley-Bean happens to be at the centre of all adventure, Bond said Bollywood superstar Salman Khan could "win an oscar" by playing Ripley-Bean on screen.

"For Ripley-Bean you have to find a seventy-year-old lady unless well known actors go into drag. You could have Salman Khan playing Miss Ripley-Bean, I don't know. He could get an Oscar for it I'm sure," he said.

Talking about blurring the lines between adult reading and children's books, he said: "As a boy I went quickly into adult books. It is hard to decide what's suitable."

--IANS

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