BOTTOM LINE
Fresh Yet Uneven Take On Desire
PLATFORM
Netflix
RUNTIME
2 Hours
What Is the Show About?
Lust Stories 3 is the third instalment of the popular Netflix franchise, exploring various dimensions of human desire through four shorts helmed by Kiran Rao, Vikramaditya Motwane, Vishal Bhardwaj and Shakun Batra. Konkona Sen, Radhika Apte, Ali Fazal, Vijay Varma, Sana Thampi, Siddharth, Gurfateh Pirzada, Aditi Rao Hydari and others essay key roles.
Analysis
Desire comes in many shapes and sizes, something that Lust Stories on Netflix has addressed with the sensitivity it merits, removing the ‘shame’ angle from the discussion. Roping in big names, both actors and directors, has given the franchise a widespread reach across both seasons, making it a conversation starter.
While the first season was a runaway success, the second met with mixed responses. The third instalment brings together directors of varied sensibilities and storytelling styles. The results are uneven and yet not disappointing. Some work, some don’t, some feel under-explored, some delicious.
Vikramaditya Motwane
On a conceptual level, the premise of two female best friends swapping their husbands to reinvigorate their sex lives over a holiday is exciting. Moreover, the inspiration from K-dramas to take this forward gives it a unique flavour. It’s messy, in a good way, for the frequently wild swings it takes.
What works best is how it captures the confusions of its leads with infidelity, friendship and sex. As a story, you wish it made you feel for it and had more tadka, as you see in the climax. Konkona Sen and Radhika Apte deliver the goods, though the men, Vijay Varma and Abhishek Banerjee, don’t get much scope to shine.
Kiran Rao
The most underwhelming of the four stories, the segment revolves around twins falling for the same woman, with an undercurrent of crime that promises some oomph and intrigue. The ultimate twist and the flawed female protagonist are written well, though the rest is a blur.
Much like the earlier short, the concept around an unusual love triangle works better on paper but doesn’t land on the screen all that convincingly. To an extent, it reflects the dangers lurking around modern-day dating. Sana Thampi fares well with her engaging screen presence. Gurfateh Pirzada is strictly okay.
Shakun Batra
Not many in Hindi cinema can boast of Shakun Batra’s skill in capturing the ebbs and flows of urban relationships in all their rawness and visual appeal. His segment is the only fully satisfying segment of the quartet, centred on a bickering couple on the verge of a divorce, for whom sex is a communicative tool.
The segment beautifully communicates how desire completes two conflicted people when words fail. Batra gives a deeper meaning to the couple’s lovemaking sessions as they fall in and out of love, while struggling to part on good terms. Ali Fazal and Radhika Madan share a terrific on-screen chemistry.
Vishal Bhardwaj
As you expect from Bhardwaj, there’s a delightful literary touch to the late 80s Hyderabad setting in the segment, which explores female desire through the written word. It speaks of the guilt, pleasure, flight of imagination and satisfaction women experience while reading and writing erotica.
The sequences set in a classroom between a young teacher and her sexually liberated students discussing sex ensure a wide grin. The story inverts the male gaze and makes the man an object of a woman’s desire, eliciting a superb performance from Siddharth as a medico. Aditi Rao Hydari matches him with the adah.
Final take:
Lust Stories 3 has more hits than misses, with a predominant focus on desire from a female gaze. While the first two segments feel slightly abstract and under-explored as concepts, the last two compensate for it with their unconventional storytelling, sharper performances and themes.
Music and Other Departments?
Each of the stories presents a different challenge for the technicians. Motwane’s short makes a mark with the way it blends melody, melancholy and ghazals with the atmospheric mood lighting. Ram Sampath brings raw tension to the edgy setting in Kiran Rao’s film through his music.
Shakun Batra’s film uses music more on an ambient level to mirror the emptiness between the protagonists over long takes. Vishal Bhardwaj is quite efficient in using reds in the vintage backdrop to signify desire, helped by the classical touches and the lyrical flavour of the brief music segments.
Highlights?
Shakun Batra and Vishal Bhardwaj’s films
Strong performances by Ali Fazal, Radhika Madan and Siddharth
Technically impressive
Drawbacks?
Kiran Rao’s film and the unfulfilled potential of Motwane’s segment too
Concepts don’t always translate into engaging scenes
Did I Enjoy It?
Works in parts
Will You Recommend It?
It’s generally watchable. While the first part still remains the best, this fares much better in comparison to the previous season.
Lust Stories 3 Netflix Anthology Reviewed by M9 News
