Join Us
Star Cast: Konkona Sen Sharma, Radhika Apte, Radhika Madan, Aditi Rao Hydari, Abhishek Banerjee, Vijay Verma, Gurfateh Pirzada, Sana Thampi, Ali Fazal, Siddharth & Gajrao Rao
Director: Vikramaditya Motwane, Kiran Rao, Shakun Batra & Vishal Bharadwaj
What’s Good: Two segments – Vishal Bhardwaj and Shakun Batra’s stories that bring the passion, desire, fantasy, and madness in the lust without making it sleazy!
What’s Bad: Motwane’s segment wastes a stacked cast on a premise that never deepens. K ran Rao’s segment feels like a short film’s first draft!
Loo Break: Anytime you want!
Watch or Not?: Watch it for a full four-course meal – they’re worth the runtime by themselves.
Language: Hindi
Available On: Netflix
Runtime: 2 hours and 40 minutes
User Rating:
There is a very thin line that separates lust from cringe and sleaze – It is how you put those stories! Netflix has been successfully putting them together and is now back with Lust Stories 3. The anthology is built to present desire as messy, unresolved, and deeply passionate stories, and this time, Vikramaditya Motwane, Kiran Rao, Shakun Batra, and Vishal Bharadwaj take charge to narrate these fiery pieces of sexual cravings!
Netflix returns with a distinct four-part exploration of intimacy, obsession, and human vulnerability. Serving as a proper 4-course meal of emotions, the anthology ranges from high-art romantic madness to grounded physical desire, anchored by a stellar ensemble cast.
The anthology follows the blueprint it has been following – four directors, bringing four very distinct stories of passion! For me, the story that stands out is Shakun Batra’s story featuring Ali Fazal and Radhika Madan! It has all the ingredients needed to narrate a story that is equal parts lust, equal parts confusion, and equal parts emotions!
Lust Stories 3 Movie Review: Script Analysis
The film has four short stories, where three of them have tried to cross paths in one way or another! The first story by Vikramaditya Motwane tells the tale of two best friends played by Konkona Sen Sharma and Radhika Apte. Both of them are unhappy in their marriages and decide to rejuvenate their intimacy and longing with their respective husbands, played by Abhishek Banerjee and Radhika Apte! They get inspired by a Korean drama to swap partners playing swing swing! Does lust find its way to love, and longing is what forms the premise!
Kiran Rao brings Gurfateh Pirzada playing twin brothers who both become entangled with a nail artist played by Sana Thampi, in a story that shifts from romantic to criminal to sexual across its runtime, building to a twist ending. Lust is the least significant part here, despite being the main factor!
Shakun Batra brings Ali Fazal and Radhika Madan to play a couple in the process of divorce who keep getting intimate at their meetings. Does it help build their relationship at all? Does lust finally lead to lost love? Batra creates an interesting relationship story here!
Vishal Bharadwaj switches the zone to handle the most complicated story in this anthology as Siddharth and Aditi Rao Hydari, a real-life couple, play a doctor and his wife in a period setting decades in the past, where her growing interest in erotic literature complicates their relationship. Do the longing, the desire, and the lust play villain in their equation! Bharadwaj decodes it well till the end!
Lust Stories 3 Movie Review: Star Performance
Aditi Rao Hydari, in particular, is magnetic, playing a woman who seems to enjoy her transformation as the Chulbuli. Siddharth’s character is messy, and occasionally over-the-top, but never boring! Radhika Madan is terrific in her story, all brittle and defensive, and cracking into something raw, and Fazal matches her scene for scene.
On paper, a swap story with Konkona Sen Sharma, Radhika Apte, Vijay Varma, and Abhishek Banerjee should have been the anthology’s showstopper. Radhika and Konkona’s Kandivali-versus-Korea class-humor hooks the audience, but since the story falls flat, the actors can’t do much! Gurfateh Pirzada in a double role sounds like a fun swing, and it starts that way, but he looks as confused as the story!
Trending
Lust Stories 3 Movie Review: Direction, Music
Packing an enviable power-house ensemble including Konkona Sen Sharma, Radhika Apte, Vijay Varma, and Abhishek Banerjee, Vikramaditya Motwane’s partner-swapping arrangement works in bits and pieces. He builds the premise well, but cannot convince, landing flat on the emotions! Kiran Rao’s crime thriller drama doesn’t land with me because there are too many complications! In fact, the story is so crooked and uneven that lust never seems to be the core of the story here! Shakun Batra yet again proves why he has mastered the art of complexities in relationships! Vishal Bharadwaj should get full credit for presenting a story that could easily have slipped into sleaze and vulgarity, but his vision makes it a strong, chulbuli, and chatpati story! The music is one of the strongest parts of Lust Stories. Ghat Pat is easily the song of the season, but Shakun Batra’s story also has good music, elevating the storytelling to new heights!
Lust Stories 3 Movie Review: The Last Word
Aditi Rao Hydari and Siddharth get the messiest, most wild and spiciest segment of the anthology, and Bhardwaj leans into it with the same unhinged theatrical energy he brought to his darker work. “Har aurat ko maloom – duniya ke saare mard aise hi hote bolke. Aaye miyan ghat pat, gaye miyan jhat pat bolke,” isn’t just a line here, it’s the segment’s entire thesis – love as chaos, and desire as a form of madness! Hallu hallu, this one builds its fire slowly and then just lets the house burn.
Radhika Madan and Ali Fazal‘s estranged couple, who discover, uncomfortably, that the only place they still function as a unit is in bed, is the beating heart of this anthology! Shakun Batra isn’t interested in judging either of its characters, neither am I! It was surreal just watching his story patiently, as two people work out what’s left of a marriage through the one language they haven’t unlearned. Genuinely the most quietly devastating fifteen minutes of the anthology.
Overall, this four-course meal works but only if you gulp down the appetizer and the starter! Just rush to Shakun Batra’s main course and enjoy Vishal Bharadwaj’s dessert!
3 stars!
Lust Stories 3 Trailer
For more Bollywood movie reviews, stay tuned to Koimoi.
Follow Us: Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | YouTube | Google News
