Lust Stories
RATING
Introduction
Anthology films have not yet gathered steam in India with the exceptions being Bombay Talkies, Dus Kahaaniyan among others. This week releases, Lust Stories, a Netflix Original and a sequel to Bombay Talkies. A sequence of 4 short stories centered around lust made by top directors of Bollywood – Anurag Kashyap, Zoya Akhtar, Dibakar Baberjee and Karan Johar(order in which the stories are in the movie). I will be changing my style of review and thereby give a rating to each story before giving my overall rating( yes experimenting with my review). Also, will be reviewing the movies in the order in which I liked them(from least to the best).
#NumberFour #DibakarBanerjee
A layered story of three characters spread across one night, this story I enjoyed the least of the four stories. The main issue was the non hurried screenplay which took time to develop. The direction is good and performances by Manisha Koirala, Sanjay Kapoor and Jaideep Ahlawat(in particular) are outstanding.
Rating – 2.5 out of 5.
#NumberThree #AnuragKashyap
A complex story of a complex teacher having an affair with her student told in the most complex manner. Anurag Kashyap is in decent form here and the performances especially by Radhika Apte(playing the most complex character ever played by an actress in hindi cinema) are outstanding. The best performance out of the four stories.
Rating – 3.5 out of 5.
#NumberTwo #ZoyaAkhtar
This story serves as a mirror to the society. A story of a man having a physical relationship with his maid only to ditch her for another women, told through the eyes of the maid. Good direction and great performances especially by Bhumi Pednekar who has only a couple of dialogues and has to emote through her eyes.
Rating – 4 out of 5.
#NumberOne #KaranJohar
A photo finish but chose this one over Zoya’s film as this story was quite novel and not seen before. A hilarious story of a wife who has unfulfilled desires from her husband, looks for other means to satisfy her desires. Superb Direction and superb performances by Kiara Advani and Vicky Kaushal.
Rating – 4 out of 5.