Netflix’s ‘Lust Stories’ Has Four Twisted Tales Of Romance And Shows Love And Lust Can Co-Exist!

As the audiences of Indian cinema grow most people are quite familiar exclusively with Bollywood. The movies filled with romantic dramas, songs and item numbers that are sometimes may or may not be related to the plot of the film.

But people who love Indian cinemas will agree to it that it’s much more than that. Cinephiles might know that there are movies and short stories being made by the Indian film industry that focuses on the real-life problems and leaves its impact on the audiences rather than producing the same old clichéd films. And these films remain a source of ingenuity and excellence of the Indian cinemas. Well, a fresh new installment of it is Netflix’s ‘Lust Stories’.

Netflix’s ‘Lust stories’ is an anthology of four short films that are not really about lust or let’s just say that it’s almost not about lust. Released on the 15th of June this anthology of short films is about women, and their quest to assert their identity. The stories are quite simple where sex takes the center stage but it’s often messy or unresolved.

According to Netflix

“Lust Stories is a contemporary take on real-life relationships through the lens of four women and their desires. The anthology film is a take on ‘Love, Sex and everything in between!”

After 2013 film Bombay Talkies on 100 years of Indian cinema, Netflix’s ‘Lust stories’ brought together four known directors of Indian cinemas: Anurag Kashyap, Zoya Akhtar, Dibakar Banerjee, and Karan Johar and was produced by Ronnie Screwvala. Featured in the same order the short films in Netflix’s ‘Lust stories’ comes in the directors’ individual style. The stories will take the audiences to a world of relatable women who usually elude our screens but are sometimes not likable.

Lust Stories characters

The cast of this short films features Radhika Apte, Bhumi Pednekar, Manisha Koirala, Kiara Advani, Vicky Kaushal, Neha Dhupia, Sanjay Kapoor, Jaideep Ahlawat, Akash Thosar, and Neil Bhoopalam. And it’s made available in 190 countries all over the world.

Netflix’s ‘Lust stories’ has 4 short stories: A teacher getting involved with her student, a relationship of a domestic helper and her employer, an extramarital affair,  a newlywed couple with their bedroom problems.

Here’s what the ‘Lust Stories’ story plot is all about:

1. The film starts with Anurag Kashyap’s story featuring Radhika Apte and Akash Thosar.

Radhika is featured as Kalindi, a married professor who hooks up with her student, Akash. She was encouraged and enamored by her husband who is 12 years older to her to experience new things.

She wanted to be in an open relationship but fails at viewing her relation with Akash as just a fling. She wanted to experience things but wasn’t ready to accept the emotions: affection, jealousy, and guilt.

2. The second story was directed by Zoya Akhtar and featured Bhoomi Pednekar and Neil Bhoopalam.

Bhumi plays Sudha who is the domestic helper of Ajit (Neil Bhoopalam), a bachelor living in a 1 BHK apartment in Mumbai. She is not only taking care of his house but also his needs. Her affair with her employer seems to blur out the class difference in the beginning. But as the story proceeds it reappears and becomes evident to both the protagonist and the audiences.

Bhumi portrays her emotions absolutely brilliantly and her subtle gestures show her inner turmoil. She shows how women have to sometimes accept the things they can’t change and can’t really shout and throw stuff as it’s shown to the world.

3. The third story by Dibakar Banerjee featured Manisha Koirala, Sanjay Kapoor and Jaideep Ahlawat.

It shows the extramarital affair and how the protagonist of the story ends her affair, on her terms. Manisha Koirala plays Reena who is not happy with her marriage and husband Salman played by Sanjay Kapoor, so she is cheating on him with his best friend Sudhir portrayed by Jaideep Ahlawat. Jaideep, on the other hand, is what every woman wants. He is successful, smart, and most importantly knows what Reena wants.

For Reena, the affair was not about lust or love or even money rather it was about her independence and freedom to control an event on her own terms. Irrespective of what her lover or husband demands, starting and ending the affair was her choice.

4. The last story was directed by Karan Johar and featured Kiara Advani, Vicky Kaushal and Neha Dhupia.

This story is the most simplistic yet most flamboyant of the lot. Karan Johar portrays the bedroom problems of a newlywed couple Megha and Paras. The story features Kiara Advani as Megha and Vicky Kaushal as Paras. Megha married Paras who fails to satisfy her wife in bed and doesn’t think about her desires. Inspired by a colleague (Neha Dhupia), Megha tries to satisfy her own needs and fulfill her desires by getting her hands on a sex toy.

It’s not that Paras doesn’t care; it’s just that he doesn’t even know that there is something wrong. He like most Indian men forgets that a woman also wants certain things and they need to fulfill her desires for a happy married life. The story has a couple of statements that prove that a woman should not be apologetic if she wants to satisfy her needs. Megha tells her husband that a woman desires more than just having kids. She says that she may be apologetic for where it happened but not for what happened.

There was nothing about the middle-class cliché that Karan didn’t touch. The embarrassing but true instances of Indian parents about the books the kid is reading, the length of the school uniform and judging a divorced woman who teaches her daughter, the story had everything.

So Lust Stories is a must watch but don’t watch it if you are looking for something steamy. The short stories surely push the boundaries and tell real stories about real women that the world needs to know. These women are unapologetic about their desires and their imperfections. They mend their heartstrings in the best way they can. And showing these real women is the true aspect of Netflix’s ‘Lust stories’. If you truly see then lust is not too different from the other L-word.