Lust Stories 2
慕情のアンソロジー2
Storyline
The whole story, ending included.
Neena Gupta advising a bride to test-drive before marriage; Konkona's chapter on an employer who hides to watch her maid and the maid's husband in her own bed.
Four short films by four directors, the series' second collection.
In R. Balki's Made for Each Other, Veda (Mrunal Thakur) and Arjun (Angad Bedi) are a well-matched couple whose families are arranging their marriage, until Veda's grandmother (Neena Gupta) refuses to allow it before they have slept together and found out whether they are happy in bed. Their parents are appalled. The couple try; the next morning Veda tells her grandmother she did not climax, and is told to keep trying until they both do. When they do, the grandmother gives her blessing, and they marry.
In Konkona Sen Sharma's The Mirror, Ishita (Tillotama Shome), a successful woman who lives alone, comes home early to find her maid, Seema (Amruta Subhash), in Ishita's bed with her own husband. Instead of confronting them she hides and watches, and after that comes home to watch every afternoon. Seema catches her reflection in a mirror, says nothing, and begins to enjoy being watched. When the two finally confront each other, Ishita fires her. Later they run into each other buying groceries. Neither has moved on, and the next day Seema is back at work.
In Sujoy Ghosh's Sex with the Ex, the businessman Vijay (Vijay Varma) crashes his car and walks to a village, where he finds Shanti (Tamannaah Bhatia), the first wife who vanished years ago. She keeps telling him to leave before it is too late. They sleep together, and he lets slip that it was he who tried to kill her, so that he could marry Anu and inherit her father's company. He kills Shanti, runs back to the wreck and sees people lifting his own dead body out of the car. Shanti appears beside him, and he understands that he is dead.
In Amit Ravindernath Sharma's Tilchatta, Devyani (Kajol) is married to Suraj (Kumud Mishra), a prince whose family's power has faded, who beats her and rapes a maid. Devyani, a sex worker before her marriage, hires Rekha, a young woman from her old brothel who has HIV, hoping Suraj will take her to bed and be infected. One night she hears Rekha with a man, then finds Suraj passed out drunk in the courtyard. The man in Rekha's room is Devyani's son, Ankur.
Starring
Neena Guptaas Dadi
Veda's grandmother, who will not bless the match until the couple have found out whether they can satisfy each other.
Dadi’s story
Dadi was happy in her marriage, she says, because of the intimacy she shared with her husband until he died, and she holds up her son's unhappy marriage as the warning. At the meeting to fix Veda and Arjun's wedding date, she tells both families that the couple must first find out whether they are happy in bed. The parents are scandalised, and her son and daughter-in-law start to avoid her. Veda listens. When she admits that Arjun was satisfied and she was not, Dadi tells her that pleasure must be shared equally, likens it to Mount Fuji erupting, and sends her back to keep trying. When the couple come to her happy, she gives them her blessing, lends them her own room for their wedding night, and pushes Veda's parents to find each other again.
Tillotama Shomeas Ishita
A successful woman living alone, who discovers that she likes to watch her maid and the maid's husband together.
Ishita’s story
Coming home early one afternoon, Ishita finds her maid, Seema, in her bed with Seema's husband, a couple with nowhere else to be alone. She does not say a word. She hides and watches them in a mirror, and after that she comes home early every afternoon to watch again. Seema notices, and carries on. When Ishita is found out, the two women have it out: Ishita calls her shameless and tells her that women like her have no business in her bed; Seema calls her a pervert. Ishita fires her. Days later they run into each other buying groceries and both apologise; neither has got over those afternoons. Ishita asks her to come back, and the next day Seema is at work again.
Amruta Subhashas Seema
Ishita's maid, who realises her employer is watching her with her husband and begins to enjoy it.
Vijay Varmaas Vijay
A businessman who, after a car crash, meets again the first wife he once tried to kill.
Vijay’s story
Vijay, married to Anu and given a top job in her father's company, is on a video call with his mistress when he drives into a tree. Walking to a village nearby, he finds Shanti, the first wife who vanished years ago. She keeps telling him to leave before it is too late. He stays. When she says that Anu tried to have her killed, he promises to set things right; they sleep together; and then he lets slip that it was he who tried to kill her, so that he could marry Anu and her father's money. He kills Shanti and runs back to the crash, where people are lifting his own body out of the car. Shanti is beside him. He should have left when she told him to, she says; now there is no way out.
Tamannaah Bhatiaas Shanti
Vijay's first wife, who vanished years ago and keeps warning him to leave before it is too late.
Kajolas Devyani Singh
A former sex worker married into a faded royal family, who plots revenge on her violent husband.
Devyani Singh’s story
Suraj took Devyani out of a brothel with the promise of a life in the palace, all that is left of his family's power. Now he drinks, abuses her every night and sexually assaults the women who work in the house, and every morning she hides the marks under make-up. Her hope is her son, Ankur. She wants to send him to study in England and to follow him there, and Suraj will not allow it. So she takes on Rekha, a young woman from her old brothel who has HIV, knowing that Suraj will go after her. One night she hears Rekha with a man, and smiles. Then she finds Suraj lying drunk on the ground. It is Ankur who is in Rekha's room.
Why it matters
Lust Stories 2 sets desire against the arrangements that usually decide it for women: the arranged match, the line between an employer and her maid, the husband who owns the house. It opens with a grandmother who insists that a couple find out whether they can satisfy each other before they marry, a heresy where premarital sex has long been taboo, spoken by the one person nobody in the family can silence. Konkona Sen Sharma's The Mirror, the segment several critics singled out, lets two women from opposite ends of a household share a secret that is about loneliness as much as sex. The last two stories are darker: a man's appetite carries him back to the woman he tried to kill, and a wife's revenge, planned through another woman's body, falls on her own son. The anthology won the critics' award for best web original film at the 2023 Filmfare OTT Awards.