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Lust Stories 2 Movie Review: The immediate takeaway I had after watching Lust Stories 2 is that a lot of it didn’t really connect with me. This anthology, with four stories developed by four different directors, was a lacklustre watch filled with a broad variety of tones where a lot of it just didn't really click. The first half is an absurdist watch with a lot of humour tied to it, however the second half shifts gears and deviates from a concept that Lust Stories 2 seemed to be building up to. Lust Stories 2 Review: Tamannaah Bhatia, Vijay Varma, Kajol's Netflix Anthology Receives Mixed Reactions From Critics, Konkona Sensharma Garners Praise.
The fundamental issue here is that most of the stories are given from a male perspective, despite the fact that they are all about women. You can't get an authentic story out of that, and it's evident from the way they're executed that they don't provide a satisfying viewing experience. It just feels like a disjointed watch where you have these couple of creators failing in creating a singular message that can come across in a unified way.
R Balki's first short establishes this right away. Following a grumpy grandma, played by a hilarious Neena Gupta, as she tries to persuade her granddaughter (Mrunal Thakur) that having a great sex life is the foundation of a marriage, the dialogue framing often feels juvenile in the concept where the mere act of having sex for the first time with someone is labelled as a "test drive." The short itself ends hastily in failing to generate a sex-positive conversation, with innuendos and entendres that merely come across as childish.
The worst offender is the Sujoy Ghosh-directed short. It's a really amateurish effort by the director, with Vijay (Vijay Varma) driving out in the middle of nowhere (or rather, a soundstage because the green screen looks utterly bad) and crashing into a tree. When he arrives in a village, he discovers that his ex-wife Shanti (Tamannaah Bhatia), who had disappeared years before, is still alive and well, living apart from him.
Watch the Trailer for Lust Stories 2:
Lust Stories 2 abruptly shifts from absurdist humour to absurdist thriller, and the chemistry between Varma and Bhatia is almost non-existent, which is made even stranger by the fact that the couple is actually dating in real life. It's by far the weakest of the four, and it all comes down to a funny climax with a plot twist that I couldn't take seriously for the life of me.
Amit Sharma's segment has some promise. It is set in rural India and follows Kajol's Chanda, who is married to a local bigwig and is continuously assaulted by him while he uses his power to demand sexual favours from defenceless women. There is an underlying concept here that does play into a true issue that we face today, and Kajol's acting here is outstanding, delivering a heartbreaking portrayal in sacrificing her own happiness for the sake of her son. But it utterly falls apart in the end, with a cynical style that will have Darren Aronofsky clapping in the back. I simply wish there had been a more victorious attitude here.
Thankfully, they did bring in a woman to tell a woman-centric story, and Konkona Sen Sharma delivers the best short of the four in Lust Stories 2. Tillotama Shome plays Isheeta, an upper-class Mumbai resident. When she comes home one day, she finds her maid, Seema (Amruta Subhash), having sex with her husband on her bed. Isheeta, who is shocked by this, rapidly gets obsessed with them and sneaks in every day to observe them having sex while also pleasuring herself. Lust Stories 2: Kajol Shares BTS Pics From the Sets of Netflix’s Anthology, Says ‘It’s Something You Cannot Miss’.
It features some fantastic themes about lust, loneliness, and desire, as well as a brilliant exploration of the class system with some great framing. Sen Sharma particularly impressed me with her camera work and use of visuals to build a story that would keep you thoroughly interested. It takes such an absurdist turn that I couldn't help but respect it. Her short towers high over the others and is a true highlight of Lust Stories 2.
Final Thoughts
Lust Stories 2 delivers two extremely mediocre stories, one decent segment and one excellent shot that create for quite a disjointed viewing. Konkona Sen Sharma as a director and Kajol as an actress bringing their excellency to this joint, but isn’t enough to save this anthology that lacks a common ground between its stories. Lust Stories 2 is streaming on Netflix right now.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 29, 2023 05:09 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).
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