Bollywood Hungama

EXCLUSIVE: Lust Stories producer Ashi Dua hints at a more intertwined fourth installment of Netflix anthology; recalls casting for first part was very hard

The Lust Stories franchise has evolved over the years from a collection of provocative stories about female desire into an anthology that explores intimacy, relationships and the complexities surrounding desire from different perspectives. With the third instalment now streaming, producer Ashi Dua has revealed that the latest edition contains subtle connections between its four stories that viewers may miss if they are not paying close attention. Speaking to Bollywood Hungama, Ashi explained that the filmmakers have introduced small elements through which characters from one story appear in another. According to the producer, these crossovers have been designed to blend naturally into the individual narratives rather than being presented as obvious connections. I don't want to really say much. I really hope everybody watches it, but we've tried to have these small little elements which you will notice in the four stories of our characters travelling a little bit in each other's stories very absolutely smoothly. You may miss it if you miss it by a minute or you may not, she said. Ashi added that the team would like to develop this idea further if they get the opportunity to make a fourth instalment. However, she acknowledged that creating a more interconnected anthology would require considerable coordination between the filmmakers. So, we've tried to do that, and hopefully if we get an opportunity to make the fourth one, we'll have it more intertwined with each other. It takes a lot because then all four directors have to write and shoot at the same time. Yeah. But we'll try. We'll try. We have to take it to the next level, she added. Ashi Dua on how Lust Stories changed perceptions around female desire During the conversation, Ashi also reflected on how the perception of the Lust Stories franchise has changed since the first instalment arrived in 2018. She recalled that casting the original film was not as straightforward as it may appear today, despite having filmmakers such as Zoya Akhtar, Karan Johar, Anurag Kashyap and Dibakar Banerjee attached to the project. According to Ashi, actors gradually became more comfortable with the franchise after understanding that its intention was not simply to provoke audiences or objectify women. Instead, the stories aimed to explore female desire and give the characters perspectives and motivations beyond their sexuality. I think when people and actors realize that we are what we are, we are not just doing this to titillate anybody. Everybody's presented really well. Every character has something that they're trying to say. It's not just putting women out there or objectifying them. That's really not what the filmmakers, us, or what the film is about. It's about speaking about the female desire which we've not been able to speak about for so many years, Ashi said. She recalled that casting the first Lust Stories was particularly challenging, even with its high-profile directors. In the first one it was very hard to cast, whether you believe it or not. I can imagine even though we had Zoya and Karan and Anurag and Dibakar, but it was hard to cast even that, she said. Ashi believes the response to the first instalment helped change the way actors viewed the project. She explained that performers became more comfortable with the material after seeing how the stories and characters were presented on screen. So I think after they saw that and they realized that this is doing things very differently is when now actors are more comfortable of course and also the comfort is between the director and the actor also. If the actor wants to work with that particular director and then the story where they feel like okay, we are comfortable doing this and we know we'll be shown in the right way is when they do it, she added. Lust Stories 3 continues the anthology format The third instalment follows the anthology format established by the first two editions, bringing together four filmmakers and separate stories that explore different dimensions of desire and relationships. The first Lust Stories, released in 2018, was directed by Anurag Kashyap, Dibakar Banerjee, Zoya Akhtar and Karan Johar. The film explored themes including female sexual pleasure, marital dissatisfaction and social expectations, and was nominated for an International Emmy Award. Lust Stories 2, released in 2023, was directed by Sujoy Ghosh, R. Balki, Konkona Sen Sharma and Amit Ravindernath Sharma. Its stories explored desire through themes such as age, social expectations, domestic relationships and long-term commitments. The third instalment features stories directed by Vikramaditya Motwane, Kiran Rao, Shakun Batra and Vishal Bhardwaj. The stories explore different forms of desire, including partner swapping, physical dependency within a failing relationship, transactional intimacy and repressed desire expressed through literature and fantasy. Also Read:Anirudh Surya on sharing screen space with Konkona Sen Sharma in Lust Stories 3: I was very drawn to her character