Lust Stories - A Review

If one were to study humanity, every aspect of our lives has been touched or moderated by social or religious dogmas, modernization and its many inventions and general good manners. But there is one element of our behaviour has remained unchanged despite all external evolutions, this is when we act upon carnal desires. You may be a formidable Judge or a nuclear physicist or a head of state or a microvascular surgeon, during sexual intercourse you are no different from the animal running wild through the jungle. This is the time when humans are most unrestrained and human or perhaps unhuman. The external factors,, particularly in the Indian context, governs the way our minds work before and after the act, the guilt, the shame, the agony and the extasy. This is what Lust Stories covers, perhaps the film should have been called Post Coital Stories?

The first story directed by Anurag Kashyap has college professor Radhika Apte having a drunken fling with her virgin student. We then hear Radhika’s inner monologue after the intercourse. Does she love her student or is this a passing phase? Will she go the extra mile to be with this object of her affection? We hear her trying desperately to rationalize her at times erratic and obsessive behaviour. She often wonders if she morally right to have a fling when the power dynamic is tilted toward her? She is confused by the external moral and values thrust upon her by society. Kashyap does rather well here by depicting the conflict within and among the characters. The repetitiveness that has been criticized was essential because that is what mental conflict is about. 

The second segment directed by Zoya Akhtar has the domestic help Bhumi Pednekar in a sexual relationship with her employer. Despite this, she helplessly watched his marriage being arranged with a girl who belongs to the same social and economic strata. The housemaid may be treated as one of the family by her kind and liberal paymasters but there will always be a thick glass ceiling where she will always have to satisfy herself with leftover food and discarded clothes. Somehow Pednekar’s character may not be satisfied with the sub-par treatment, but does she manage to stake a claim of what she thinks is rightfully hers? This segment adds an element of mystery presenting Bhumi, we are not quite clear about her identity initially. Perhaps they make could have gone a step further and shown the sexual incompatibility of the couple after marriage and depict Bhumi's paymaster longs for her.  Still, this is the most poignant and heartbreaking among the stories with Akthar managing the adeptly handle the understated and depict the class structure in our society that still holds strongly despite seeming advancement. 

The third segment directed by Dibakar Banerji has Manisha Koirala in an extramarital relationship with her husband’s best friend her friend from college. Koirala is tempted to leave her husband and be with the man she clearly has a better sexual chemistry with. But is it easy to abandon a relationship of decades? 
The husband appears to be a manchild, who may also have problems with his business. This is the weakest of the segments, the characters are not properly fleshed and their motivations do not seem entirely clear. It seemed like the director wasn’t quite clear about the trajectory or the purpose of the story. 

The final segment by Karan Johar has newlywed Kiara Advani struggling to cope with her newly married life. Under the able guidance of her voluptuous colleague Neha Dhupia, she adopts a series of measures to spice up her sex life with her new husband. Once again this is a look at a society that doesn’t view men and women as equals. This reflects in the bedroom where the man is focused solely on his satisfaction. The mind has been conditioned to the extent that he fails to recognize his partner’s dissatisfaction. It also covers the sad truth that most middle-class women in India do not see sex as an act of pleasure but merely as a means to procreate. This is an over the top comedy and Karan Johar manages to juggle all the elements of the story and present, a poignant, thought-provoking and very hilarious take. He also manages to take a hilarious dig at our education system.

A huge reason this is watchable is the sterling performance from all its female leads. Radhika Apte’s is an absolute treat to watch, she manages to get the nuances as well as the demonstrative unhinged aspect of her character, she also effectively depict her moral dilemma during lengthy monologues perfectly. Despite all the challenges Radhika is an absolute natural, at times you forget she is acting. Bhumi Pednekar has very little in the form of dialogues, but she effectively transforms herself, with a tan and a submissive body language to convey the utter pathos. We witness the pain in her eyes as she helpless sees the man she cares for plan a life with his new bride. Manisha Koirala does well too in an underwritten role, proves she still is one of the best actresses in our county able to depict the subtle aspects of a character. 

But the scene stealers of the film are Kiara Advani and Neha Dhupia. The very attractive Advani manages to balance the virginal coyness and the sexual assertiveness of her character. While her smile and words may be attempting to convey something it is clear her mind is elsewhere as she deals with the baffling world of her new marriage.  Advani manages all these complexities perfectly. Neha Dhupia’s spirited and uninhibited performance scores ten on ten, this could have been a caricature in lesser skilled hands, but Dhupia manages to bring an assertive yet sensitive humanity with a sense of fun to her character aptly named after the greatest temptress to adorn the big screen, Rekha. The supporting players do rather well as well. 

Given the platform, the relatively unencumbered creative freedom and a complex subject like lust, one would have hoped that the makers would have pushed their limits to be provocative and unconventional. But instead, they dance around the borders but never dare to take the plunge. In all segments we have women craving for male attention, focused on the men in their lives, displaying male behaviour and very seldom asserting themselves to the men in their lives. None of the characters manages to break convention. Most of these characters are helpless, confused and even loathsome. This is a respectable effort alas it is not spectacular.  

With the proliferation of streaming services, the future of Indian Television that once seemed bleak due to anachronistic themes looks rather hopeful with this new found freedom. Hopefully, Lust Stories will be the first step that begins a brave new journey to defy creative convention