Here’s what we liked and loved about 'Lust Stories 2'

Last weekend, Netflix’s Emmy-nominated series Lust Stories returned with a new season. The series continues to explore relationships through the lens of sexuality. The anthology features shorts by R Balki, Konkona Sen Sharma, Amit Sharma and Sujoy Ghosh and boasts a power-packed star cast that includes Mrunal Thakur, Angad Bedi, Neena Gupta, Tillotama Shome, Amruta Subhash, Vijay Varma, Tamannaah Bhatia, Kajol, and Kumud Mishra.

So here’s ranking the one I liked the least, to the one I liked the most. 

'Sex with Ex'

Was it surprising to see the most talked-about short film being the most disappointing? Absolutely not. Most of our social media feeds have been flooded with how good Vijay Varma and Tamannaah Bhatia’s chemistry is for a while now. For starters, the entire look and feel was like it was produced on a green screen; the clouds, trees, houses, roads, everything looks straight out of a comic book. The film had absolutely nothing (story-wise) to hold one’s attention. You hope Varma, for a change, is the good guy but he goes down the path he’s walked before. What promises to be a short thriller with elements of lust, loses direction around the mid-way mark and makes you wonder if you’re watching a horror instead. 

'Made for Each Other'

This story leaves you smiling, thanks to R Balki's light-hearted tale. It stars Bedi, Thakur, and Gupta as a grandmother we all wish we had while growing up. The director beautifully emphasises the topic of checking your sexual compatibility before getting married and has Gupta utter some of the most comical, yet sensible lines in the context. She asks, if one test drives a car before buying it, shouldn’t they do the same for the person they will spend the rest of their life with? Gupta's savage responses and lines can very well be printed on a T-shirt, without making it sound preachy even for a single second. 

'Tilchatta' (Cockroach)

This short film, directed by Amit Ravindernath Sharma, on sex and lust lives up to its theme for its wonderful climax (no pun intended). Kumud Mishra plays a landlord who just can’t keep things in his pants and will sexually abuse any woman around him, including his wife, played by Kajol. Kajol manages to express a lot without saying much, while Mishra is compelling as a man obsessed with power and an insatiable thirst for sex, so much so that you start hating his character. In the scenes they are together, you can’t help but feel uncomfortable and helpless. Audiences might think of lust as a good thing, but Sharma shows how it can be used as a weapon to bring a man down to his knees and wreck him. We wouldn’t spoil things for you, so it’s best you watch it for yourself. 

'The Mirror' 

The story is an absolute masterclass about how a short film should be made. With a gripping story and brilliant performances by the actors, Konkona Sen Sharma has shown she can be a brilliant director as well (she’s written the story as well). Tillotama Shome is a working woman living alone who finds her house help (Amruta Subhash) using her bedroom to have sex with her husband when she’s away at work. That’s not even the worst part. If you think one would judge Subhash’s character as being shady, it’s Shome who looks at them from the mirror in the hall and gets off on the sounds that they make. The confrontation scene is by far the best scene in the two-hour-long anthology for it not only highlights what love and lust mean to the two characters, but also things such as consent, voyeurism, and the class divide between the employer and the employed. Shome and Subhash have given brilliant performances.