- Posted by Filmi Beat, last updated on 29 June, 2023

Platform netflix

‘Lust Stories 2’ is an anthology, where 4 stories show us different forms of ‘lust’. These stories show different characters, who have different experiences and different expectations. After the successful first series, four well-known directors – R Balki, Konkona Sen Sharma, Sujoy Ghosh and Amit Sharma – have come together for this sequel. It is difficult to show emotions like lust, sensuality, passion in a limited time, but last season the director was successful in it. There was a mix of performance, intelligence and humour. And this time the entire series appeared to be deviating from the track.

The one story that attracts among the four is Konkona Sen Sharma’s film. Even in this finely written short story… Konkona explores themes of social class, place and female sexuality.

debut film

Director- R Balki
Cast: Mrinal Thakur, Angad Bedi, Neena Gupta

A young couple (Mrunal and Angad) are about to get married. The date has also been fixed. But the grandmother of the girl says that first see whether the sex life of both will be good or not. She says- “You take a test drive before buying a car. Then why not test drive before marriage?” They argue that couples who have a great sexual relationship live a satisfying life for a long time. However, the director has tried to keep his point in very clear language. But the film doesn’t connect with you anywhere. The personal moments of the couple are shown sparingly, thus making their story boring. The film takes a jibe at those families, who talk about being modern, but start hiding their faces as soon as they hear the word ‘sex’. Neena Gupta’s performance is commendable, but it is also a role that didn’t leave much room for her to innovate. At the same time, there is no special chemistry between Mrinal Thakur and Angad Bedi.

second film

Director- Konkona Sen Sharma
Cast: Tilottama, Amrita Subhash

Konkan’s film begins with two faces of Mumbai, on the one hand the high-rise buildings, on the other hand the slums surrounding it. These two come from different worlds- Ishita (Tilottama Shome) and her maid, Seema (Amrita Subhash). Ishita is design and lives alone in her flat. One afternoon, Ishita enters the house to find her maid Seema having sex on her bed. It turned out that the man is Seema’s husband, who sometimes sneaks in here silently. Ishita is stunned to see them having sex, but she doesn’t let them feel her presence. Ishita secretly sees them having sex every day. And within a few days, a strange game of seeing and not seeing begins between the three. The direction of the film is excellent. Konkona has shown the mood of a rich but lonely woman very well. Mistress and maid come on one occasion and come to the same place.. That is their sexual feelings. Tilotma and Amrita Subhash have uplifted the film with their stellar performances.. Very well balanced and impactful.

third film

Director- Sujoy Ghosh
Cast: Vijay Verma, Tamannaah Bhatia

If any film has been discussed the most in this anthology.. then it has been this one. But this film itself turned out to be the weakest. Neither the story of the film has guts, nor the characters nor the acting. Vijay (Vijay Varma) is driving on a road. Somewhere in between, his car breaks down and he has to find help somewhere nearby. On this occasion, he encounters his ex-wife Shanti (Tamanna Bhatia), who has suddenly disappeared for 10 years. The director has introduced lust with thriller in the story, but has failed miserably. This story bothers me.

the fourth film

Director- Amit Sharma
Cast: Kajol, Kumud Mishra, Anushka Kaushik

The last film is of Amit Sharma, who corrects the bad taste of Sujoy Ghosh’s film. It is the darkest of the four films and it would not be wrong to say that the acting side of this film is the strongest. Here too the screenplay is weak, but it is interesting to see Kajol and Kumud Mishra in a different avatar on screen. Chanda (Kajol) has moved out of the brothel and is living in an old mansion belonging to a royal scion and her husband (Kumud Mishra) makes her realize this every night. He is a victim of domestic violence. But she bears all the humiliation and pain to get her son out of this suffocating life. The ending of the movie is hard hitting.. such that for some time you will think about that story. Kajol’s acting has been excellent. The cinematography and editing of this film has been good.

rating

There is no innovation, no passion, no emotion in this anthology that came on Netflix. Apart from Konkona Sen Sharma’s film, the screenplay of the other three is quite average, so even the huge starcast could not deliver anything special. 2 stars to Lust Story 2 from Filmbeat.

Story first published: Thursday, June 29, 2023, 20:24 [IST]