Lust Stories 2

Four eminent Indian directors explore sex, desire and love through short films in this sequel to 2018’s Emmy-nominated ‘Lust Stories’.

Made for Each Other: Veda and Arjun are friends, whose families want to arrange their marriage. At a dinner celebrating the couple, Veda and Arjun’s parents remark at the two being a ‘perfect match’ due to their shared hobbies and interests. Veda’s widowed, religious grandmother walks in, and is keen to know if the two have engaged in sex. Veda’s grandmother explains that physical compatibility is important in a relationship, as interests can change over time. She recounts to Veda her own marriage, in which she and her late husband always kept each other satisfied. Taking cues from this, Veda and Arjun sleep together after a night out at a club. Veda seems happy at having had intimacy, but is not completely satisfied. Attributing it to their initial nervousness, she and Arjun continue to hook up, albeit inside expensive hotel rooms as their parents are still averse to the idea. Finally, they visit Veda’s grandmother one afternoon, claiming to have understood how to satisfy the other in bed. Veda’s grandmother is pleased and consents to the marriage. She offers her room to the couple for their wedding night to use as their honeymoon suite.

The Mirror: Ishita is a designer, in her 30s, who is single and lives by herself. She suffers from frequent migraines. Her maid, Seema, visits in the day, to clean her apartment. One afternoon, Ishita walks in on Seema having sex in her bedroom, with her husband, Kamal. Too shocked to confront them, Ishita hides while the couple finish and leave. Ishita realizes this is a daily occurrence but is unable to stop it. She also realizes being turned on by watching them have sex. The next day, she secretly starts hiding in her apartment, to spy on them through a mirror and leaves her office daily around 3pm on the pretense of seeing an acupuncturist for her migraines. One day, Seema spots Ishita in the same mirror, and realizes she is being watched. Unable to confront Ishita lest she be fired, but also excited by having someone watch her, she continues and pretends as if nothing has happened. One afternoon, Ishita accidentally knocks something over, causing a commotion and forcing Seema to confront her. The two hurl accusations at each other, and Seema is fired. She struggles to land another job, while Ishita cannot find another maid as rumour has spread. At night, Kamal and Seema argue with each other in their tiny one-room apartment, shared by the whole family. Kamal is at first angry with Seema for knowingly allowing an invasion on their privacy by Ishita but reconciles when he realizes she did so intentionally as a turn on. Some weeks later, Ishita and Seema run into each other while buying groceries. They enquire about the other’s wellbeing, and Seema asks if she can come back to work. Ishita agrees, and hands over the keys to her apartment. The next day, Ishita sneaks back into her apartment at 3pm, indicating a return to the old patterns.

Sex with the Ex: A successful CEO of a company, who is married but has a strained relationship with his wife, meets with an accident while driving his old car. Before the accident, he had a video call with his girlfriend, who distracted him and caused him to crash into a tree while trying to avoid hitting a cyclist. Unable to start his car or use his phone, he seeks help from the cyclist and they go to a nearby village. He asks a reluctant mechanic to fix his car, but there is no phone signal available. He goes to a coffee shop and hears a familiar song playing nearby. He follows the sound and finds a woman in a red saree dancing at a community hall. He tries to approach her, but she denies being the person he thinks she is and asks him to leave. A police officer arrives and addresses her by the name he called her, which makes him happy. Inside her house, it is revealed that they were once married, but she disappeared ten years ago. He is thrilled to see her again, but she wants him to leave. They recall their past and have conversations, during which he behaves inappropriately towards her. She repeatedly asks him to go away, but he refuses. They discuss the events leading up to her disappearance, and she suspects that their friend Anu was involved. He reveals that he married Anu and had children with her, becoming the CEO of Anu’s father’s company. This angers Shanti, who thinks Anu orchestrated her abduction to marry Vijay. They have sex, and while lying together, Shanti mentions the pregnancy test she took before her disappearance. Vijay’s response reveals that he manipulated the situation and planned everything to marry Anu. Shanti realises this and confronts him, and he admits to suffocating and killing her with a pillow. In order to escape the arriving policeman, Vijay escapes through a window. Back at his car, he sees people pulling his body out, thinking he is dead because he didn’t respond. Shanti appears next to him and tells him he should have returned when he had the chance to which he screams.

Tilchatta: Suraj Singh is a wealthy King, who lives in a palace with his wife and son. He is a sexual abuser, who routinely assaults his wife, Devyani, as well as other young girls in the town. After he assaults a maid working at the palace, she ends up quitting. Devyani’s mother runs a prostitution ring in another town, and calls up Devyani about news of a young prostitute being infected with HIV through a client. She feels bad for the girl, as her life is effectively ruined at a young age. Meanwhile, Devyani is preparing her son, Ankur, to move abroad for higher education. Ankur is reluctant to leave his mother to the mercy of Suraj. However, Devyani secretly wishes that Ankur will make a better life for himself, while also sponsoring her immigration abroad and eventual escape from Suraj. Suraj discourages Ankur in his plans for education. Meanwhile, Devyani hires a maid, Rekha, to replace the one Suraj assaulted. Rekha is young and innocent, and Suraj sets his eyes on her. He finds an excuse to be alone with her, then inappropriately touches her. Ankur walks into the room, causing a distraction and forcing Suraj to leave. Ankur notices Rekha’s disheveled clothing as she adjusts herself following Suraj’s exit. At night, Devyani hears sounds of moaning in an adjacent room. She seems pleased, and proceeds to check on the source of the noise. Unknown to Suraj, Rekha is the young prostitute from Devyani’s mother’s town, whom Devyani installed in the house, so that Suraj gets passed the disease when he inevitably rapes her. Devyani walks towards the room, but is interrupted by Suraj stumbling into the courtyard, drunk and unable to walk. Suraj passes out, and Devyani turns in horror at the source of the sounds, realizing that her plan has backfired and that the moaning likely originates from Rekha having sex with Ankur.

Genre: Bollywood, Drama, Romance
Director: R. Balki, Konkona Sen Sharma, Amit Ravindernath Sharma, Sujoy Ghosh.
Starring: Mrunal Thakur, Kumud Mishra, Angad Bedi, Amruta Subhash, Neena Gupta, Kajol, Tamannaah Bhatia, Tillotama Shome, Vijay Varma

Watch Lust Stories 2 Movie