Ajeeb Daastaans
ただならない物語
Storyline
The whole story, ending included.
Four odd tales; Neeraj Ghaywan's 'Geeli Pucchi' about a Dalit factory worker and her upper-caste colleague is the one people mean.
Four short films by four directors; the title means 'strange stories'.
In Shashank Khaitan's Majnu, Lipakshi (Fatima Sana Shaikh) is trapped in a loveless marriage to Babloo (Jaideep Ahlawat), a feared estate owner who neither touches her nor tolerates her straying. She falls for Raj (Armaan Ralhan), the driver's son, who has turned down London to work for Babloo, and they plan to run away. Babloo, secretly gay, confesses that he loves Raj too. But Raj has wanted revenge ever since Babloo broke his father's legs over a damaged car; he betrays them both and leaves the country. Babloo finds Lipakshi waiting alone at the station, pregnant. He spares her, and they are left together, both loved and betrayed by the same man.
In Raj Mehta's Khilauna, Meenal (Nushrratt Bharuccha), a maid bringing up her little sister Binny (Inayat Verma) in a slum, takes a job with Vinod Agarwal, the housing society secretary who cut off her electricity. He gropes her and makes plain the power will cost her sex. Binny sees. During the party for the Agarwals' newborn, Meenal's drunken boyfriend Sushil (Abhishek Banerjee) knocks out the power, and the baby is found dead. At the police station Meenal accuses her childless former employer, until the police find the baby's toy in Binny's bag. The girl says the baby was only a toy.
In Neeraj Ghaywan's Geeli Pucchi, Bharti (Konkona Sen Sharma), a Dalit factory worker with a commerce degree, is passed over for an office job that goes to Priya (Aditi Rao Hydari), a Brahmin newcomer. The two women fall for each other, but Priya, married and closeted, draws back when Bharti admits her caste, and at Priya's office birthday Bharti is called in only to serve cake. Bharti talks Priya into motherhood, learns her work, and, asked by Priya's mother-in-law, advises that she stay home. The job becomes Bharti's.
In Kayoze Irani's Ankahi, Natasha (Shefali Shah) learns sign language for her daughter, who is losing her hearing, while her husband is too busy to try. She falls for Kabir (Manav Kaul), a deaf photographer, and spends a night with him. Home the next morning, she finds her husband signing and laughing with their daughter. When Kabir follows her to the door, she closes it on him, weeping.
Starring
Fatima Sana Shaikhas Lipakshi
A wife in a loveless marriage to a feared estate owner, who falls for the driver's son and plans to run away with him.
Lipakshi’s story
Babloo married Lipakshi and told her he loved someone else and would never sleep with her. Three years on, she flirts with the men who pass through the house, knowing what Babloo does to any man caught near her. Then Raj, the driver's son, turns down a job in London to work for Babloo, and she tells him her marriage is falling apart. They fall in love and plan to elope. But Babloo has fallen for Raj too, and Raj has come for revenge, for the day Babloo broke his father's legs over a damaged car. Raj betrays them both and leaves the country. Babloo finds Lipakshi waiting alone at the station and turns his gun on her. She is carrying a child, and he spares her. They are left together, loved and betrayed by the same man.
Jaideep Ahlawatas Babloo
Lipakshi's husband, a violent, closeted gay man who guards the family's name and falls for the same young man as his wife.
Nushrratt Bharucchaas Meenal
A street-smart maid bringing up her little sister alone, who takes a job with the man who cut off her electricity.
Meenal’s story
Meenal keeps the room she shares with her little sister, Binny, lit with an illegal connection, until Vinod Agarwal, the new secretary of the housing society where she works, cuts it off. To get the power back she goes to work in his house, saying she can put up with his leering if the lights come back. After the Agarwals' baby is born, Vinod gropes her, and she leaves in tears. On the night of the baby's party, her drunken boyfriend, Sushil, knocks out the power, and the baby is found dead. At the police station Meenal says she knows nothing, then accuses the childless woman she used to work for. Then the police find the baby's toy in Binny's bag, and the girl tells them the baby was only a toy.
Konkona Sen Sharmaas Bharti Mandal
A Dalit factory worker, educated and overlooked, who falls for her Brahmin colleague and then outmanoeuvres her.
Bharti Mandal’s story
Bharti is the only woman on the factory floor, and the office job she was told was not open goes to Priya, a newcomer hired, Bharti learns, on the strength of a palm reading. When Priya asks her surname, she gives a false one. They grow close and fall for each other; then Bharti tells her she is Dalit, and Priya draws back. Called in to Priya's office birthday only to serve the cake, Bharti cries alone in the changing room afterwards. She talks Priya into having a child, stands in for her during her maternity leave and learns the work. At tea in Priya's home, served in a metal cup unlike the family's china, she tells Priya's mother-in-law that Priya should stay home with the baby. The job becomes hers. She drinks from the cup, looking straight at Priya.
Aditi Rao Hydarias Priya Sharma
A Brahmin daughter-in-law, new to the factory office, drawn to Bharti but unable to step outside her marriage or her caste.
Shefali Shahas Natasha
A mother learning sign language for her daughter, lonely in her marriage, who falls for a deaf photographer.
Natasha’s story
Natasha's husband says he is too busy to learn the sign language their teenage daughter now needs, and their fights grow bitter. At a photography exhibition she meets Kabir, a deaf photographer, and they talk in sign language. Friendship turns to love. One night at his flat she loses her nerve and walks out, and on the stairs a message from her husband tells her he will not be home that night. She goes back up and stays. In the morning Kabir rehearses a proposal in front of the mirror and cannot bring himself to make it. She goes home and finds her husband and their daughter laughing together. When Kabir follows her to the door and accuses her of lying with her eyes, she coldly tells him to leave, and closes the door on him, weeping.
Why it matters
The four stories pull desire through the hierarchies that shape it in India: class, caste, sexuality, disability. A closeted husband and his neglected wife turn out to want the same man. A maid's body is made the price of her electricity, and the story ends in an act of violence by a child. Neeraj Ghaywan's Geeli Pucchi, the segment reviewers singled out, makes a love story between two women into a study of caste, as a Dalit worker learns that tenderness does not cross the line her Brahmin lover will not cross, and turns the prejudice around her into a way up. The last story measures a marriage by who bothers to learn the sign language a daughter now needs. Konkona Sen Sharma won the best actress award for a web original film at the 2021 Filmfare OTT Awards. What lingers is how often the strangeness lies in who is permitted to want whom.