Lust Stories 2 (2023) Review!!

Synopsis – Four eminent Indian directors explore sex, desire and love through short films in this sequel to 2018’s Emmy-nominated “Lust Stories”.

My Take – Released five years ago, Lust Stories, Netflix‘s anthology film saw filmmakers Anurag Kashyap, Zoya Akhtar, Dibakar Banerjee and Karan Johar attempt to outline the nature of love, lust and desire in the form of four, both hilarious and dramatic, shorts that only accentuated the forbidden nature of the theme in hand.

Resulting in a mostly competent entertainer with each segment providing an enjoyable perspective of the particular director.

And while the second installment has an excellent bunch in hand in the form of filmmakers like R Balki (Paa), Konkona Sen Sharma (A Death in the Gunj), Sujoy Ghosh (Kahaani) and Amit Ravindernath Sharma (Badhaai Ho) to provide a wider variety of the overarching theme, sadly in comparison, the experience is flat out inferior with more mixed results.

With Konkona Sen Sharma‘s segment being a standout and Amit Ravindernath Sharma‘s segment coming a close second, it shocking how well experienced directors like Balki and Ghosh ended up using the concept as lazy gimmick, all in the name of inventiveness. Leaving little in the way of impact.

Once again divided into four segments: 1) Made for Each Other follows Veda (Mrunal Thakur) and Arjun (Angad Bedi), a young couple who are about to get married with the support of their parents. Making a perfect match since the both are ambitious and have many things in common. However, Veda’s god-loving grandmother (Neena Gupta) believes the two must have sex before marriage to make sure they are compatible. A taboo suggestion which leaves everyone red-faced.

2) The Mirror follows Ishita (Tillotama Shome), a single working professional who lives in an upscale flat in Mumbai. On a particular day when a bout of migraine attack forces her to come home early, she is shocked to find her trusted all-purpose maid Seema (Amruta Subhash) having sex in the bedroom.

Though she is initially repulsed, unsure what to make of what she has inadvertently barged into. She quickly begins to see what is before her eyes almost every day as an opportunity to liven up her dull, sexless life, if only by proxy.

3) Sex with Ex follows Vijay Chawhan (Vijay Varma), a slimy successful businessman who on his way to meet his girlfriend, Nisha (Jennifer Piccinato), finds his trip cut short when his boss (Jugal Hansraj), who is also his father-in-law, calls him back for an emergency meeting.

But while engaging in online sex during the drive Vijay ends up banging his car into a tree. However, when he enters the strange nearby town to rest until his car gets fixed, Vijay comes to face to face with his first wife, Shanti (Tamannaah Bhatia), who disappeared ten years ago without a trace.

4) Tilchatta follows Devyani Singh (Kajol), a former sex worker, who is now married to Suraj Singh (Kumud Mishra), an alcoholic abuser and powerless king of a Rajasthan kingdom that has clearly seen better days. Years of privilege and entitlement has convinced Suraj that whoever he touches can be his.

Leaving Devyani to pin her hopes on her son Ankur (Zeeshan Nadaf) to get out of the rut, specifically to England, and take her too. However, the dynamics of the palace change with the arrival of Rekha (Anushka Kaushik), a young cleaning lady, who Suraj inevitably begins to lust for.

The opening segment from director R. Balki is an ad-like concept stretched all the way that results in neither pleasure nor joy. Resulting a fluffy and sterile take on the centrality of good sex in a happy marriage that quickly gets preachy and intolerable after a point. I am not even sure why this was made and added as a part of the film.

Thankfully, the follow-up from director Konkona Sen Sharma is a concept refreshingly presented. Immediately heading into a tangled and twisted terrain, the segments depiction of urban loneliness, class privileges, and codependency sustained by modern-day living definitely shed news new light. The scenes where both the ladies lose their cool and then eventual reconcile are remarkably directed.

However, the most baffling of the lot is director Ghosh’s segment, which reminds you that this is same man who had once helmed horrendous productions like Home Delivery (2005) and Aladin (2009) and not masterpieces like Kahaani (2012) and Badla (2019). Apart from Tamannaah‘s unfiltered beauty, there isn’t much to relish here. The story is a mess, the CGI countryside is an even bigger mess, and the climactic twist can be seen coming miles away.

But while, the plot of director Amit Ravindernath Sharma‘s segment is as old as it gets, it works fascinatingly. Mainly as the story is acknowledges the crucial importance of lust and the slipperiness of it, always threatening to spurt out instead of untangle. The twist ending only doubles down on that point.

Performances wise, Neena Gupta pulls off her character with grace, while both Angad Bedi and Mrunal Thakur are given nothing to do. Tillotama Shome, Amrutha Subhash and Shrikant Yadav are excellent in their respective roles. Tamannaah Bhatia and Vijay Varma make for a magnetic pair only to be wasted in a poor setup. The same goes for Mukti Mohan, Jennifer Piccinato and Jugal Hansraj.

Kajol is solid as always and Kumud Mishra continues to be flawless and effortless. Anushka Kaushik and Zeeshan Nadaf manage to ace their performances. On the whole, ‘Lust Stories 2’ is a subpar anthology with a mixed bag of stories and just one particular standout.