Lust Stories Review -  About Love, Lust and Everything in between..

Suhansid Srikanth

Five years ago, Anurag Kashyap, Zoya Akthar, Dibakar Banerjee & Karan Johar came up with an an anthology of four films, clubbed together as 'Bombay Talkies'. Flagged as a tribute to 100 years of Indian Cinema, the films explored the greatness and magic of the medium.. the power of films.. and how inseparably it has become a part of every Indian's day to day life in one way or other. It had a theatrical release and like every anthologies experimented in Indian mainstream, it didn't fare well. Yet it is remembered for the flavour it brought in.. the vibrancy.. most importantly, a common platform to share, for some of the wonderful actors we have.

Cut to 2018.. here they are back with 'Lust Stories'.. that unseal quite a few taboos, dismiss the myths, break some conventions.. speaking out all about the unspoken! And this time, it streams on Netflix.. bringing all the dare in stories they tell and how they tell it. The men are real! The women are real! And what they go through is not just fiction but slices of life lensed out gracefully.

The first chapter.. One that's directed by Kashyap revolves around a college lecturer's dare to explore the life eventually ending up in an affair with one of her students. Radhika Apte as Kalindi, is dashingly brilliant as someone who is both composed and chaotic. The film opts for a very European style in its telling.. in its back and forth cutbacks to random moments. It is in her mindling monologues to the camera we get what's running in her mind.

The second tale.. directed by Zoya Akthar, is the most underwhelming film of the assemble. It follows the mood of a maid who is in love with a man she works for. The film deals with her settling to the reality.. getting to accept the fact that he is getting engaged and she stands no chance. For most part, the story relies on extended long takes that captures her being reduced to nothing but a mere worker. Bhumi Padnekar as Sudha is earthy. Her physicality talks it all for her.

Third one.. by Dibakar Banerjee, is probably the most intriguing tale of the film. Manisha Koirala plays Reena.. who is in her late 40s, middle of a marriage life sorting out her relationship issues with her husband and his friend with whom she shares an affair. It effortlessly withholds an ambience of boredom in late married life.

However the most amusing film among all four is the last one, directed by Karan Johar. Between a man who has premature ejaculation and a woman who doesn't get her due of orgasm.. the story stands for majority of Indian women. Vicky Kaushal's performance as a newly married, sweet lovey-dovey guy balances the character without pushing us into a disgust.

Despite being stunningly revolutionary in terms of the stories they deal with.. all four films end in a note with its foot rested in reality without being a pseudo rebel. We see Radhika Apte not encouraging the affair, claiming she is married. Sudha doesn't cry and complain to the man about her love. She moves on with her life. Reena bids a good bye to her affair for the moment and demands her husband in style. Karan's film is cinematic with the couple talking it out to start it all over again. Yet it affirms a hope.

The beauty of Lust Stories is in their carefree nature to just tell these tales.. share these stories.. with no big much much about them. It addresses how love is interwoven in all these lives where lust takes over. It has opened gateways for filmmakers to display their thoughts without a filter. And also.. than everything else.. it has finally kickstarted Indian Cinema to talk about lust without romanticism.. write erotica on screen without limiting it to just skin shows, nudity and sex.

Bottom Line: Lust Stories, from India's four interesting filmmakers is a breakthrough. Amidst mindless masalas and pseudo art films.. here is a film that talks love as love.. life as life.. lust as lust!