Film

Lust Stories 2

Name: Lust Stories 2
Genre: Romance, Drama
Released: 2023
Cast: Neena Gupta, Mrunal Thakur, Tamannaah Bhatia, Kajol, Angad Bedi

Drama
Dip in and out

A provocative Indian anthology that unpacks desire and intimacy through four distinct stories directed by major filmmakers. It's candid where Hindi cinema traditionally stays silent, unapologetic about female sexuality and pleasure, and anchored by excellent actors navigating complicated emotional territory. For anyone ready to see Indian cinema interrogate its own hangups about bodies and wanting.

TMDb rating

2.8

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you like anthology films where four separate stories share a theme but not a plot, and you enjoy sharp, adult portraits of desire that swing from tender to uncomfortable within minutes.

Skip it if you want one connected story or something light and easy; the mood jumps from segment to segment, and across two hours that restlessness can wear thin.

What it asks of you: Two-plus hours in four separate rhythms; each short film settles at its own pace and rewards patience more than speed.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Masaan2015

Explores desire, class and mortality in small-town Varanasi with stunning visual precision. Like Lust Stories 2, it treats sex and longing as serious subjects worthy of unflinching attention and real consequence.

But The pace is glacial and deliberately bleak. If you want catharsis or closure, you won't find it here.

Kabali2016

A sensual, genre-bending film that follows a woman discovering her own agency and desire late in life. It has the same unapologetic energy about female bodies and pleasure that makes Lust Stories 2 refreshing.

But The narrative is fractured and dreamlike, prioritizing mood and image over plot clarity. It demands patience.

Parched2015

Four women in rural India reclaim agency over their bodies and desires against systemic oppression. It's unflinching about female sexuality and the cost of desire in conservative spaces, with similar emotional weight and nuance.

But The subject matter is heavy and the realities depicted are genuinely bleak. It's not a comfort watch.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Lust Stories 2

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Lipstick Under My Burkha2017

Both use the anthology structure to give multiple women their own narrative about desire; both treat female sexuality as a serious feminist subject rather than spectacle.

Four women negotiate desire and autonomy under pressure from family and society. It shares the anthology's structure and urgency, but approaches the same questions through a grittier, more politically urgent lens with Alankrita Shrivastava's unflinching direction.

But It's darker and more claustrophobic than Lust Stories 2, with less room for complexity or escape. The ending offers no relief.

Natrang2010

A Marathi film about obsession, performance and the thin line between art and life. Like the anthology's best segments, it uses genre playfulness to explore desire and identity beneath the surface.

But It's deliberately mannered and theatrical in ways that feel alienating if you're expecting naturalism. Subtitled, which matters if that's a barrier.

Badhaai Do2022

Interrogates desire and marriage in modern India with tenderness and specificity. It shares Lust Stories 2's commitment to taking unconventional intimacy seriously without judgment or kitsch.

But The emotional beats can feel predictable and the resolution slightly neat. It's gentler than you might want if you're craving real discomfort.

All Is Well2015

An intimate look at a long marriage, desire and disappointment. It's quiet where Lust Stories 2 is bold, but similarly committed to exploring what bodies and wanting actually feel like.

But Almost nothing happens and the emotional register stays muted. If you need momentum or dramatic incident, you'll find this frustrating.

Article 152019

Uses sex and sexual violence as a lens to examine caste and power in India. Like the anthology's strongest segments, it refuses to look away from uncomfortable truths about desire, control and society.

But The subject matter is disturbing and the treatment unflinching. It's urgent in ways that can feel exhausting rather than cathartic.

Dum Laga Ke Haisha2015

A rare mainstream Hindi film that genuinely interrogates desire and fatphobia head-on, with humor and sympathy. It's lighter than Lust Stories 2 but animated by similar values about bodies and wanting.

But The comedy occasionally undercuts its own seriousness. The tonal balance between romance and critique is imperfect.

Hate Story2012

Early Indian attempt at a sexually explicit revenge thriller. Rough-edged and genuinely uncomfortable, it represents where Hindi cinema was when it first tried to reckon with onscreen desire and the consequences.

But It's clumsy compared to Lust Stories 2 and the film punishes desire in ways that feel moralistic. It hasn't aged well in tone.

Housewife2017

Both treat desire as something that can't be contained in conventional storytelling; both privilege feeling and sensory experience over explanation.

A sensual, formally inventive film about female desire told partly through dreams, fantasy and sensory experience rather than plot. It uses form itself to explore the unmappable territory between wanting and living.

But It's abstract and visually demanding in ways that some find alienating. There's almost no conventional narrative and the sound design is deliberately disorienting.

Monsoon Wedding2001

Both use ensemble structure to celebrate multiple kinds of desire within family and social contexts; both treat sensuality as something joyful rather than shameful or transgressive.

Mira Nair's ensemble film is a joyous, sensual celebration of bodies, desire and marriage across a large family during monsoon season. It's Bollywood-adjacent but far more formally ambitious, with the same warmth about wanting and connection that animates Lust Stories 2's best moments.

But It's a product of early 2000s aesthetics and can feel nostalgic in ways that date it. If you want current-day specificity, you won't get it.