If the birth of Lust Stories was a shout for liberation, a tearing down of the velvet curtains that long hid Indian intimacy, then the third iteration is the echo. Helmed by a new set of original voices — Shakun Batra, Vikramaditya Motwane, Kiran Rao, and Vishal Bhardwaj — and bolstered by an ensemble of actors who translate subtext through the vocabulary of body language, it does not seek to shock, nor does it carry the heavy burden of breaking taboos. It treats desire not as a provocative statement, but as a messy mirror.
The four-part anthology shows how physical proximity often masks isolation in modern relationships. It shows how lust is weaponised, bargained with, or surrendered to. In the earlier films of the franchise, the stories followed a clear arc of liberation, a character realising their worth or claiming their pleasure. Here, within the recognisable OTT beats, the liberation is rarely external. In three segments, intimacy is readily available, but real emotional safety is scarce.
But what happens when intimacy dries up in married life? In Motwane’s closely observed short, two wives from Mumbai’s Kandiwali, drawn to Korean shows, come up with creative ideas to reclaim their desire. It treats a tragic emotional crisis with the sharp, biting edge of situational comedy. By refusing to turn their sexless marriages into a melodramatic soap opera, Motwane finds the ludicrousness in human desperation and turns marital rejection into a cynical joke. Konkona Sen Sharma and Radhika Apte excel as women trapped in quiet erasure. Even when you realise exactly where their revolt against domestic seclusion is heading, their performances keep the journey arresting.
Konkona Sen Sharma and Radhika Apte in a still from ‘Lust Stories 3’
| Photo Credit:
Netflix
It is refreshing to seeKonkona break out of the stoic moulds she is often cast in, and Radhika channel her character’s frustration into a kind of physical energy that is overpowering in a good way. Vijay Varma and Abhishek Banerjee play the mobile- and ab-obsessed husbands with such natural, everyday complacency that they give Radhika and Konkona a concrete wall to bounce their desperation against.
‘Lust Stories 3’ (Hindi)
Directors: Vikramaditya Motwane, Kiran Rao, Shakun Batra, Vishal Bhardwaj
Cast: Konkona Sen Sharma, Radhika Apte, Ali Fazal, Radhika Madan, Siddharth, Aditi Rao Hydari, Vijay Verma, Abishek Banerjee
Runtime: 164 minutes
Storyline: Four stand-alone narratives trace the volatile boundaries of modern intimacy, charting the desperate measures characters take when emotional connection gives way.
Batra’s approach is sharper and much more relatable as he once again makes us care for two messed-up souls and, along the way, exposes the common internal dissonance where individuals love their partners but are actively, silently suffocated by them.
In this psychological warfare, Saili (Radhika Madan) and Varun (Ali Fazal) are seeking divorce, but their bodies haven’t given up on each other. When words ruin everything, sex is their way to communicate. By introducing a manipulative mother-in-law into the sanctuary of the bedroom, and a pragmatic, ‘Switzerland-like’ husband into the heat of an argument, Batra crafts a humorously recognisable dynamic. Ali Fazal captures the exhaustion of a husband who feels his partner expects him to be a magician, and Radhika Madan looks the part as a wife frustrated by her husband’s corporate-style emotional management.
Ali Fazal and Radhika Madan in a still from ‘Lust Stories 3’
| Photo Credit:
Netflix
Set in the 1980s, Vishal Bhardwaj’s poetic examination of love shifts the traditional power of the gaze to the female character, and the physical dynamic gradually becomes a subversive commentary on how agency operates on screen. Aditi Rao Hydari is usually cast as an idealised, ethereal romantic interest. Still, Bhardwaj tears down this archetype as she plays a literature teacher in a ‘girls’ college who reads Manto aloud. A woman who understands that a story’s beauty resides in its slow, deliberate prologue, Saira returns home to a doctor husband (Siddharth) who approaches intimacy like a clinical procedure, rushing to an abrupt conclusion before the first chapter can even begin. Egged on by her curious students, Saira writes an erotic novel that captures the implicit longing of her bedroom but is consumed by guilt of breaking tradition.
However, unlike the preceding segments where the irony and indictment arise from the same organic root, Bhardwaj’s piece suffers from a tonal schism. The whimsical, almost theatrical humour frequently works at cross-purposes with the gravity of the social commentary. While Aditi Rao Hydari is excellent as the Dakkhani-speaking teacher and Rekha Bhardwaj’s voice tingles the right corners of the heart, Siddharth’s casting as the central object of desire falters. The segment struggles to translate the couple’s real-life chemistry, feeling more performative than passionately felt.
Kiran Rao frames lust as an extension of urban ambition in the metropolis. Starring Gurfateh Pirzada and Sana Thampi, and with Mumbai as a breathing participant, desire is dictated by space and survival instinct. What begins as a raw, electrifying connection between a gig worker and a nail artist swiftly unravels when a hidden windfall literally spills from a closet behind the mirror. This sudden, surreal intrusion of money strips the romance of its passion, reducing their bond to a transactional negotiation. However, like Bhardwaj’s take, the short doesn’t fully bridge the gap between what it means and what it actually shows. When the subtext and the surface narrative don’t fully synchronise, the narrative loses its grip. You are left admiring the cleverness of the concept, but remain largely cold to the human drama on screen.
Lust Stories 3 is currently streaming on Netflix
Published – September 18, 2026 12:31 pm IST
