Kalindi is a young college professor, who has sex with her student, Tejas. Since Tejas was a virgin, Kalindi fears he might develop feelings and get obsessed. She ‘friendzones’ him, while using him as emotional support. When Tejas shows signs of moving on, Kalindi starts incessantly talking about her new, monogamous relationship to make Tejas jealous. Tejas starts dating classmate Natasha, while Kalindi’s relationship fizzles out. Now obsessed herself, she starts stalking Tejas. Kalindi accuses him of dishonesty, and breaks into his house seeking evidence against Natasha. Finally, Tejas is ready to break up with Natasha and commit to Kalindi, but she casually reveals that she is married and walks away. Through breaking the fourth wall, the audience learns that Kalindi, herself a virgin before marriage, is experimenting sexually to match the ‘experience’ of her older husband, Mihir, who lives abroad.
Zoya Akhtar
Ajit lives in a bachelor pad, and hires a maid, Sudha, to do the chores. While doing her job, Sudha also sleeps with him consensually. While she is just a fling to Ajit, Sudha seems to have some feelings for him. Ajit's parents arrive for some time, during which Sudha diligently works for the family. One day, another family arrives with a marriage proposal for Ajit and their daughter. As Sudha cooks, the two families discuss plans for their children. Sudha serves them tea and finds Ajit alone with his bride-to-be in his room. He caresses her face and strokes her hair. Outside, Ajit's mother distributes sweets to announce her son’s engagement. Silently heartbroken, Sudha accepts some sweets from Ajit’s mother, who congratulates her. She resumes her normal routine, and is shown leaving the apartment after yet another day at work.
Dibakar Banerjee
Reena, a banker, is in an extra-marital affair with her husband's close friend Sudhir. The two are in love and have maintained their secret relationship for 3 years. During one of Reena's visits to Sudhir's home, Salman relays to Sudhir that he suspects Reena is cheating on him. This causes Sudhir and Reena to panic. Reena voices they should tell Salman about the affair so they can openly be together and is disheartened at Sudhir's reaction as he does not seem to think it a possibility. Reena ends up calling Salman to Sudhir's home. Reena reveals to Salman that she is unhappy in their marriage, and feels that Salman only needs a mother for his children, not a wife. After she reveals her 3-year affair with Sudhir, Salman breaks down and asks her to stay for the sake of their children. Later that night, the couple bond and make love whilst Reena is grief-stricken. The next morning, she tells Sudhir that Salman knows about the affair, wants her to end it and that Sudhir can never "know" that Salman was aware of the affair at all. Reena tells Sudhir that she cannot meet him again and leaves with her husband.
Karan Johar
Megha, a young school teacher, marries Paras, who works in an office. While Paras dotes on her, he is not sexually experienced and frequently leaves Megha dissatisfied. Meanwhile, Paras’ family push her to bear children. One day, Megha witnesses her colleague, Rekha, using a vibrator in the school library. This motivates Megha to use one too; however, when she attempts to try it out at home, there is a commotion in the living room and she rushes out with her vibrator still inside her. Paras' grandmother, looking for the TV remote, finds the vibrator remote and starts using it unknowingly. She begins to increase the intensity, as Megha realises what is going on. She tries to hide the pleasure from being visible on her face, but fails. Megha eventually climaxes in the living room, as Paras’ family watch in shock. Scandalised, Paras's mother demands a divorce. One month later, Paras and Megha live separately, but Paras tells her that he does not wish to divorce her. After she firmly says that a woman has more desires than just children, Paras feeds her ice cream, indicating that he is interested in pleasing her.
Lust Stories is developed as a sequel to the 2013 anthology film Bombay Talkies. It has been co-produced by Ronnie Screwvala and Ashi Dua under the label of their respective production companies RSVP and Flying Unicorn Entertainment. The four segments of the anthology film have been directed by Anurag Kashyap, Zoya Akhtar and Dibakar Banerjee and Karan Johar respectively.[3][4][5]
Release
The international distribution rights for Lust Stories were acquired by Netflix.[6] The film was released on Netflix on 15 June 2018.[7]
Soundtrack
The film score was composed and one song was guest-composed by Sameer Uddin, while rest of the songs were composed by Amit Trivedi, Tanishk-Vayu and Prateek Kuhad.
Lust Stories delightfully pushes boundaries to tell real stories about real women, who are unapologetic in their imperfections and desires, and go about mending their heart strings the best they can. Lust after all, is never too far from the other L-word. —Suktara Ghosh, in her June, 2018 review for The Quint
Critics praised the film's portrayal of women and its exploration of female sexuality, a subject which has been rarely dealt with in Indian films.[9] Film critic Alaka Sahani used the metaphor of a woman’s body is draped in a dupatta while discussing the sheltered sexuality of women in general, a theme that took a central position in the narrative; she praised the handling of the subject matter as clinical in the subversion of such regressive stereotypes associated with women who have an active sex life as the presumably amorous "vamps" in the Indian film industry.[10]Kiara Advani's masturbation scene in the film, using a vibrator, was praised for its frank portrayal of women's sexuality.[11]
Mridula R of The News Minute echoed the sentiment as she praised the film's novelty in the honest portrayal of women, their "liberation, thoughts, [and] decisions".[12] Others were also appreciative of the "glorious women [who] stubbornly and strikingly hold the reins"[13] and the "sometimes not likeable, but definitely relatable women who usually elude our screens".[14] Commentators responded positively to subtlety in the film's use of female protagonists; they were especially impressed by the fact that all of the stories had female protagonists "without being obnoxious about it",[9] how they were wielded "to tell stories from a uniquely different perspective" [15] and how it is a befitting slap on the face of India’s morality preachers as an extremely contemporary take on — not sex in India — but on the majority’s perception on how it must be represented in culture.[16]
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