When a movie is called Lust Stories,
one wonders if it is a marketing ploy to lure in audiences that are pretentious
and express hatred towards sex, but in fact enjoy. I wonder who came up with
the name! I read very brief description about it before it got released in my
country. I got curious to find out who in India would dare make a movie with
such openness. Boy! Not just one, but 4 different directors have come up with
segments with their own signatures.
As far as stories about four women go,
Lust Stories is everything about the characters make feminists ask questions
that make us uncomfortable, those that women try to shoo away in the
cold reality of the day, inadvertently, yet can’t escape at night. They do
it all by just go on about their lives the way many of us would; or just the
way you and I wouldn’t have the courage to.
The First segment starts with the
story of Anurag Kashyap’s Kalindi. Her issues with commitment and marriage
makes her neurotic, misguided and eventually possessive. Kalindi is in a
long-distance, open marriage. She seduces and sleeps with her student, tries to
convince herself that the obsession she develops for him is born out of her
worldly ideas of love and monogamy. Initially, she gets concerned that her
student might get possessive, fall in love, ends up stalking her. She starts to
stalk her lover with her sudden alarming behaviour and fixation. One gets
uncomfortably aware of the unspoken gender dynamics unfolding on the screen and
her sex protects her. I high expectations of Radhika Apte and was mildly
disappointed.
The Second story is by Zoya Akhtar.
This story is about a house maid who, for a brief moment, allows herself from
the regular confinements of her life, to start a sexual relationship with her
single employer. However, it is short lived and thanks to class consciousness,
she is swiftly shoved back into her place, as her employer proceeds to get
engaged to another woman, as she watches on. His thoughtless is something many
women experience in life, be it from lover or husband. No one notices the
maid’s unspoken and unspeakable desire. Her continued silence only underlines
her invisibility in the house, society, and even the life of the man who was
happy to have sex with her, until a suitable match, an equal comes along. The
most poignant moment was when the mother refers to her son as Bhaiya, (Brother)
while talking to the maid. You feel sad for her. Bhoomi excels in the role of a
house maid.
The Third story is of Dibakar
Bannerjee’s Reena, who is unhappily married to a rich and successful
businessman, while having an affair with his best friend, a heart surgeon. The
story unfolds through conversations — between the husband and wife, the two
best friends, the lovers. The characters steer clear of the usual clichés that
inevitably expressed when the theme of adultery and subsequent breakdown of
marriages are handled/showcased. Though this story revolves around an affair,
but it is actually simply about denial, and the way each of the characters
continue to play their part in order to maintain the status quo. Beautifully,
subtly yet effectively portrayed by none other than Manisha Koirala. She has
performed the role with class. One slight, wrong move, the character could have
turned out bad.
And the last story is by Karan Johar.
Megha, a young and beautiful school teacher, waking up to her sexual needs,
but, has no clue on how to go about the lust she. She gets married to a man who
seems decent enough, hoping to be satisfied often yet respectably.
Unfortunately, her simple-minded, run-off-the-mill husband is blissfully
unaware that his bride is unsatisfied with his performance in the bedroom,
until an unfortunate series of events results in an acutely embarrassing
showdown. KJo’s leading lady is the only character whose motivations are purely
fuelled by lust, but instead of treating her sexual appetite like a guilty
pleasure that must be kept a secret, seen as a taboo, K Johar has painted her
well that she owns it boldly in a way only very few of us can.
This series might be called Lust
Stories, but it is just about life and the exhaustingly unimaginative, thoughtless
nature of relationships. Sex is most certainly a character in each of the four
films, but, it isn’t the only one that matters. Like in real life, it is in
turns messy, transactional, unemotional, forgettable, unforgettable,
possessive, and routine. Couple of my guy friends in fact messaged me saying
that they found it not vulgar, but very interesting and good. As a woman
myself, I didn't not find the story revolting or irrational in
anyway. All being said, Lust Stories is about what women India need!
A break-free from many taboos!
