Summaries

Synopsis

The dead body of an Anglo-Indian woman, Susanna Anna-Marie Johannes (Priyanka Chopra) is recovered from a burned down house. Sussane has had 6 husbands and all of them are dead. The case is assigned to forensic pathologist Arun, who is ordered to complete DNA profiling of the dead body's mortal remains.

The story then goes into a flashback.The story is told by a young forensic pathologist, Arun, (Vivaan Shah) to his wife (Konkona Sen Sharma). Arun addresses Susanna as "Saheb". Susanna tries to find love, but six of her seven husbands have a flaw which proves fatal. The deaths of her husbands (and her yearning for love) are explained by the loss of her mother and father at a young age. She always looked for her father in every man she met.

Arun has watched Susanna since their childhood and has a secret crush on her. He owes his life to her; she funded his education (Arun used to be a stable-boy, but Susanna fired him and then sent him to school), making him what he is today. Arun tells his wife that Susanna has committed suicide, leaving him a note congratulating him on his marriage. The doctor must now confirm that the body found is Susanna's. Arun is unable to overcome his grief over her death and pours out his heart to his wife, who listens patiently.

Susanna's first husband-Edwin Rodriques (Neil Nitin Mukesh), an army major-is overbearing, jealous and possessive (he represents envy). Edwin gets jealous when she dances with fellow officers at a military function.It was Susanna's father's last wish that she should marry Edwin.Disabled (he lost his leg after his participation in Operation Blue Star), he cannot believe that a beautiful woman like Susanna would be faithful to him. Uncertain of his sexual potency (the doctor says that there is nothing wrong with Susanna, indicating that he is the reason why she cannot conceive), he takes out his anger on his wife. Edwin wants Susanna to have a child and settle down as a housewife.Goonga manages Susanna's stables but doesn't respect Edwin or his interference in the affairs of the house. Susanna kept pet snakes in a dried up well on her property and fed them milk. Maggie auntie had brought up Susanna ever since she was a kid. Everyone, including the snakes are shown to be completely faithful to Susanna.Although Susanna endures his mental cruelty, she cannot forgive Edwin for blinding her faithful, mute stable-boy Goonga (Shashi Malviya) with a whip. Goonga was protecting his staff from Edwin's ire when Edwin challenged him to a fight. In the whip fight, Edwin hits Goonga in the eye and blinds him.Edwin is eliminated during a panther-hunting trip with the help of Susanna's faithful maid Maggie Aunty (Usha Uthup), butler Galib Khan (Harish Khanna) and the mute stable-boy. Edwin's leg slips on the Machaan (although it was indicated that he was pushed from behind) & he falls right into the path of an oncoming jaguar.

Susanna's second husband-Jamshed Singh Rathod (John Abraham), who renames himself Jimmy Stetson after their marriage-is a singer whose flaw is Gluttony. The marriage begins well (the sex is great), but Jimmy becomes a successful rock star and misuses his new-found fame. He steals songs from his batch-mates in college, dallies with other women and becomes dependent on drugs. Susanna has to write checks from her estate to cover for Jimmy's transgressions.Susanna wants to be lucky in love the second time and is adamant to save her marriage. She tries to wean him from his addiction, but he continues in secret. She gives up, disposing of him with a heroin overdose.Every time she disposes of a husband, Susanna rings the village church bell loudly and multiple times.Police investigator Keemat Lal find footprints near his body indicating that a person with six toes is the murderer. Keemat also finds the pet snakes in the dried up well on Susanna's property. Keemat has lust in his eyes for Susanna, which she understands.

Susanna travels to Kashmir for a vacation. There Susanna meets and marries her third husband-Wasiullah Khan (also known as Musafir) (Irrfan Khan), a soft-spoken, thoughtful poet by day and a sadistic masochist by night (his flaw is Wrath). Susanna tries to cover her bruises with makeup; her servants cannot bear to see her mistreated and advise her to get rid of him. Khan is ultimately interred in a snowy Kashmiri grave.Her fourth husband, Nicolai Vronsky (Aleksandr Dyachenko), is a Russian spy leading a double life (His flaw is Pride). When Susanna discovers he has another wife and family, her rage knows no bounds and he meets his end with the aid of Susanna's pet snakes.

After Vronsky's death, Susanna no longer agonizes over eliminating anyone of whom she disapproves. Her fifth husband, Keemat Lal (Annu Kapoor), is a police inspector who has shielded his "Madame" from prosecution for two murders in exchange for marriage. With a voracious appetite for sex (his flaw is lust), his dependence on Viagra proves his undoing; one fateful night, Susanna mixes an overdose of the drug into Lal's drink.

Modhusudhon Tarafdar (Naseeruddin Shah) is a Bengali doctor who rescues Susanna from a suicide attempt (when she learns about Arun's marriage) and puts her on a mushroom-only diet. Although she does not want to marry him, Tarafdar persuades her with a promise that she will be the sole heir of his property. Actually bankrupt, he tries to poison Susanna with mushroom soup several years later for her inheritance (his flaw is Greed). Her butler drinks it by accident and dies instead; in a state of shock, she shoots Tarafdar during a game of Russian roulette.

That night, Susanna sets her house ablaze in another suicide attempt. Seeing the house on fire, her maid Maggie Aunty (who has six toes) tries to rescue her but dies in the attempt (her flaw is Loyalty).Sometime later, Arun's wife Nandini finds out that Arun lied about his whereabouts and suspects that he is cheating on her with Susanna.In the forensics laboratory, Arun discovers that the body is Maggie Aunty's (with her 6 toes) and not Susanna's but declares her dead to return her favor of educating him. He goes to Pondicherry, looking for Susanna. They drink together and Susanna tells him that she is getting married once more and invites him to the wedding the next day.

He looks for her; when he finds Susanna, she tells him she is finally getting married the next day to someone who accepts her, knowing all her sins. In an epiphany she imagines Jesus Christ as her seventh husband, full of love and never hurtful; she dies, becoming a nun and finding the love she sought all her life. Arun and his wife return home after he tells her that Susanna is dead.