Ruskin Bond admits he did not like parts of Priyanka Chopra’s 7 Khoon Maaf

“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.

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.

New Delhi, India - Sept. 9, 2014: Writer author Ruskin Bond, in New Delhi, India, on Tuesday, September 9, 2014. (Photo by Subrata Biswas/ Hindustan Times) (Hindustan Times)

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.

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.

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.”

Follow @htshowbiz for more