How Lust Stories 2 Became a Topic of Controversy
From June 29, 2023, when Lust Stories 2 was released on Netflix, there was a lot of anticipation for it before its release. Just like the first Lust Stories, the sequel was expected to push further the boundaries of the first story, as the audience wanted more honesty, more shadows of relationship drama, and more narratives of India’s more scandalous and unfiltered relationship. Cast and directors – Kajol, Mrunal Thakur, Tillotama Shome, Tamannaah Bhatia, R. Balki, Konkona Sen Sharma, Sujoy Ghosh, and Amit Ravindernath Sharma – attached to the project helped market the film. They helped the audience think that the filmmakers and stars can use the story to tackle some again sensitive issues.
People often remember her first movies as spicy. In her interviews, Kajol said that actors often have to deal with the onscreen representation of “lust” and that it involves a lot of how to show it without crossing the line into silly stereotypes. In the first taupe, she plays a character without ‘sexy and sharam’ (the rudimental slangs of ‘shame’ and ‘sexy’). Her ivory playships were enough to make the audience to think, ‘could she really pull off such a story? ‘. Additional intrigue came from the trailers; the visuals hinted to eroticism, wrapped in a tone of guilt, wanting, and a sense of authority that was unbalanced. Listeners began to wonder which tale would take the prize in creativity. Would it be the short from Kajol filled with the darkest depths of her imagination, or would it be paired with Konkona’s “Mirror” or Sujoy Ghosh’s “Sex with Ex” that her creativity would reach its limits?
The anthology contains four segments, each with a different tone, split between four different directors.
The film also features Mrunal Thakur, Angad Bedi and Neena Gupta. The couple Veda and Arjun are getting ready to have a wedding and everything is full of familial rituals and expectations, polite and mild happiness. But, then comes Veda’s grandmother who begins to ask those questions which are not very pleasant-but are honest: have you had sex ever, and do you think you are sexually compatible? The grandmother urges them to test their ‘bedroom life’ before making it official. Veda comes to own rather curiously and lustfully from Embarrassment. In contrast to the objectives that come later, it is much ‘lighter’. In the case of Veda, the emotional arc, along with her grandmother’s very daring intrusion, touches upon a theme that is rarely spoken about freely: sexual fulfillment do not purely remain romantic ideals, but rather a part of marriage.
Konkona Sen Sharma’s “The Mirror”
The disparity of social classes and female want and lust is addressed through the relationship of Isheeta, played by Tillotama Shome, and Seema, played by Amruta Subhash. Isheeta is in a material comfortable position, but is sexually deprived. Seema, a maid, has a maid with little private life. When Isheeta catches her maid in an act of intimacy in her apartment, everything changes. There Pavlovian guilt schames, gets compartmentalized with voyeurism in its hyperkinetic amalgams. Shame and what the undulating furious want does, coexists. Isheeta, more silenced, animated with the Tillotama’s performance — a whisper, of the mirror trope — the anthology is “redeemed,” by what most critics say.
Sujoy Ghosh’s “Sex with the Ex”
The eponymous “Ex” is played by Shanti, a character who is portrayed by Tamannaah Bhatia, who encounters and interacts with Vijay Varma, a CEO, portraying the role of Shanti’s spouse. The two interact after a substantial duration of time in peculiar, dreamlike settings. Vijay: “Do you believe in memories?” With these lines, a monstrous feeling of regret is intertwined with suspicion, desire, and as if in an illusion. “Is she my ex?” “Is this an illusion?” Their electrifying connection is of the utmost importance. The sometime illogical visuals in this part of the story are at times dreamlike, and furthermore, the overall narrative touches the very boundaries of a thriller, sometimes overshadowed by ethical confusion. People applauded the performance of Vijay and Tamannaah for the new roles they assumed, but there are those who believe that the pacing, overall rhythm, and the twist were not as powerful.
Tilchatta (Amit Ravindernath Sharma)
The segment with Kajol. The quietest. Deep in the franchise trilogies, Kajol shows her conquering and suffering spouse in the scene description. Kajol and husband features Mihira smuggles the arms and bears. Not too much. She devours her husband, both bodily and in mind. The wish is within and below. The rapt fear in her eyes — the weapons herself and the moral failures — it was so unlike the Devyani from all the other stories. It was in all the other stories Devyani was only wealth and devotion. Devyani means to slay. In the snippets that we have, we see her in a pensive shade, bruised. In her devotion, there is reign and a blush. In that section, we are with and at the back of her. There we see her clawing the glass, and from above, down. Losing Kajol, the arms that she lose are no longer valued. In no ends are those hands of hers to rail. It is with those hands and that mind that she makes it rain.
Which through Life into Screen Portrayals
Kajol has publicly stated that emoting lust is not easy for her: that words like “sexy” or “shame” are foreign or awkward. She has said that she forgets lines, and that she laughs while doing romantic scenes and is asked to blush or do close-ups. However, in Tilchatta, she expertly engaged in discomfort — her character has to blush, which she cannot afford. She is made to be seen, and made to be vulnerable. That struggle is evident in the film — Kajol’s Devyani is multi faceted because Kajol had to push herself.
Amruta Subhash talked about her discomfort with intimacy scenes, and what worried her: in the The Mirror, she works with Shrikant Yadav. They are longtime friends. There was some hesitancy for the both of them. Amruta asked for a day to do some, “warming up” emotionally, that was a rehearsal with the rest of the film. That is important. It shows that the trust, rehearsal, and bond offscreen, added to what went into the chemistry that was seen on screen.
A conversation venus erupted about Tamannaah_bhatia and vijay varma with respect to more the real life off set romance and the movie as well. The media saw the “fun” off the time set during the shooting of the movie during serious portions of the movie they went with laughter and jokes. Raw smile, Behind the scenes clips with the cast and actors free from the role effortlessly. Fans offscreen relationship speculation is what they managed to offscreen relationship speculation is what they managed to confirm later. That is tied to the way “Sex with the Ex” story was observed. It is common for the fans to add characters if pair of actors show romance time and more romance time off for shoot.
What Work, What Doesn’t.
Most reviews appreciated The Mirror segment for its emotional clarity and the exploration, of female yearning across social stratification, something very rarely addressed so explicitly in Indian popular or streaming content. Critics also noted that the segment featuring Kajol rigidly epitomized a dispassionate and darker closure. That, the segment was bold enough to depict lust not as a romanticized fantasy, but as something born out of degradation, anger and wanting to possess.
Conversely, some critics (and some fans) believed certain portions lacked adequate development. The first segment, Made for Each Other, struck some as “sterile” — the concept of sex-compatibility is intriguing, but the treatment seemed cautious, almost too courteous. Sex with Ex was bold in its visual imagery, but some spectators found the twist obvious. And Tilchatta was compelling but disquieting — some praised it, others deemed it met “shock value” without enough resolution.
The box office or streaming impact: While Netflix doesn’t release precise data, the anthology was released globally and was trending in India on the release date. Responses on social media varied. Fans defended and appreciated different stories. Segments were made into memes and sparked discussions in gender and feminist circles. For many viewers, Lust Stories 2 served as water cooler content: “Which story impacted you the most?” “Which actor wowed you in the story?” “Which story impacted you the most?”
Behind the Scenes: Fans May Not Have Noticed
Amruta’s nervousness about intimate scenes: As mentioned already, since Shrikant Yadav is a friend, emotional safety for both was wanted. Amruta requested a rehearsal with Konkona Sen Sharma. Although such dedication is not often publicized, in The Mirror’s case, it informed the preproduction stage.
In the film captured on the set Sex with Ex, behind the scenes, daya is seen trying to break vijay’s concentration during takes and during laughter and small bloopers. This type of comfort probably made their scenes feel more naturally intimate.
Kajol’s struggle with “emoting lust”: she exposed and made it clear in interviews that even after decades in the industry, the act of retiring and being asked to portray lust (not romantic love, but raw desire, shame, and shameful love) makes her want to burst. She often relies on edits, close ups, or imagines the shot will be captured beautifully by someone else. She often ends up feeling anger and that someone will capture the shot in some manner. The unease with the desire to bold which a specific act creates is a bold act.
Within the exclusive interview that I had the privilege of conducting with both Kajol and Amit Sharma, they said that “Lust Stories 2 reflects the way love and relationships are now – not a fairy tale, not one of eternal devotion, but fragile, with countless possibilities, and modern expectations.” Without deviation, they placed realism as the central priority. They wanted more realism and less gloss or glamour, with more ordinary settings rather than enclosed, gleaming profusion, and more modern light rather than gloss.
This particularly shows that the piece of Lust Stories 2 is still being talked about. For the streaming services in India, the anthology still has not succeeded, but is trying to instigate conversations and stir the silos that the Indische culture is defined in. Why is Cupid’s lust not a genre of erotic fantasy? Why does one have to reflect on betrayal or what one desires? What does the expense of socially correct yet constraint wanting mean?
The anthology has often been talked about as loss of dominance in one way or the other. The segments of the anthology do have a certain risk. It is at the discretion of the actor to let themselves become vulnerable and exposed, in stories that few would dare to touch. What they do is offer the somewhat controlled and restricted populace the poser of lacking touch with reality, and having the ability to see and feel but in the most restricted and confined manner.
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