Lust Stories 2 review: Konkona Sen Sharma's short is the best of the lot (2024)

When the first anthology Lust Stories came out in 2018 on Netflix, India was still getting used to anthologies in OTT space. Made by the famous quartet,Karan Johar, Anurag Kashyap, Zoya Akhtar and Dibakar Banerjee,it had different stories that brought myriad complex issues of society to the fore. Five years since there have been multiple anthologies available in OTT space and so to make a sequel of Lust Stories, one must up the ante. Does it succeed though? Only in parts.

Netflix takes on board four directors R Balki, Konkona Sen Sharma, Sujoy Ghosh, and Amit Ravindernath Sharma to create four very distinct stories,with just physical needs and bodily desires as the only common factor running in all the stories. The four stories are of course not at the same level. Some show a lot of potential, and some meander and fizzle out by the end but that's how anthologies work. Some stories shine bright others don't.

In R Balki's short Veda (Mrunal Thakur) and Arjun (Angad Bedi) are almost about to set the date for their wedding when their dreams are punctured by a pertinent question from Veda's grandma (Neena Gupta), "Did you take a test drive first?"

The finest story in Lust Stories 2 comes from a woman. Konkona Sen Sharma, who made the brilliant Death In The Gunj, has already established herself as an able director. Her short featuring Tillotama Shome and Amruta Subhash not just puts a smile on your face instantly but also brilliantly highlights the caste, and class divide in cities and also deftly handles female desires which are not restricted to any age group or class - as is perceived. Shome plays Ish*ta a rich, affluent but lonely corporate woman who one afternoon discovers her house-help (Subhash) humping a man on her bed. It is later discovered that the man is the maid's husband who sneaks out every afternoon from work to spend some quality time with his wife at the latter's employer's plush apartment. Ish*ta is shocked initially but eventually becomes a mute audience to the couple's intimate act - and then satiates her own desires in the process. All seem like a routine until one day the couple discovers they are being watched. Deftly handled, the short so intricately handles human emotions are desires and Shome and Subhas, both credible actors, put out defining performances making their story the most striking and memorable.

Sujoy Ghosh spins a thriller of sorts with lust as just a backdrop and takes Vijay Varma playing an extension of his character from last month's Dahaad. Here Vijay plays Vijay, a man who chats up with women on video while driving around in what seems like the beautiful countryside. While gazing at a woman strippin' on a video call, he rams his car to a tree outside a sleepy town. As he looks around for a mechanic, he ends up meeting Shanti (Tamannaah Bhatia) his ex-wife who disappeared one day10 years ago. Sparks fly almost immediately (it helps that the actors are dating in real life too) and they end up sleeping together even as they try to unravel their mysterious past. Ghosh gives a very interesting spin to the theme and makes the story completely 'hatke'. It's slick and shows off the great chemistry of the new couple of B Town- Tamannaaah and Vijay.

Director Amit Ravindernath Sharma's short is perhaps the gravest and most disturbing. The Badhaai Ho director takes the audience to a crumbling palace set near the river bank where a lecherous king (Kumud Mishra) forces himself every night on his wife, Chanda (Kajol). Her only hope is her son, whom she wants to send to England - away from their murky reality. But is Chanda completely helpless? Dynamics change when a new maid comes to work at their palatial home. The king now fancies the younger woman, a fact that Chanda is very well aware of. How she uses it for her own advantage forms the rest of the story. The film pairs up Kajol and Kumud Mishra for the first time. A complex story, the ending may leave many unsatisfied, but it also gives Kajol a completely new character to play- something that we have never seen her play. Does it work though? Only in parts because her character is not as well fleshed out as it could be and that limits her performance to a great level.

Lust Stories 2 shines in parts. While it brings forth issues like domestic violence, female desires, and the importance of talking about sex and sexual health before marriage ably in the four stories, it doesn't shine completely. It falls short in some stories while others shine bright. For me, Konkona's short was the highlight of the anthology which ably handles so many societal issues that exist in our cities. Where the gap between the rich and poor seem to be growing by the day, yet the primary human emotions and desires remain common for one and all.

Lust Stories 2 boasts of a great ensemble castand some of the actors are truly great in their respective parts. I wish all the stories left a defining impact on me, which it didn't.The anthology is streaming on Netflix.