‘Lust Stories 3’ review: Mild mischief and generous comedy

The Netflix anthology film Lust Stories is back. Lust Stories 3 is still in the sort-of-safe to be watched at work, opting to be mildly risky rather than boldly risque.

The one-woman-to-three-men ratio is intact. Bollywood continues to monopolise an omnibus that kicked off in 2018. By now, it has no business sticking to the Hindi language and Mumbai filmmakers to examine the spectrum of sexual desire.

Vikramaditya Motwane, Kiran Rao, Shakun Batra and Vishal Bhardwaj, in that order, tackle aspects of love and carnality. Motwane is in a rare comedic mood for a story by Avinash Sampath about two frustrated women in dull marriages who gets inspired by a K-drama about swinging.

Shonali (Konkona Sen Sharma) and Padma (Radhika Apte) scheme to spouse-swap during a vacation. Shonali makes a beeline for Hemant (Vijay Varma). Padma sidles up to Debu (Abhishek Banerjee).

Delulu is the solulu in a Korea-to-Kandivali-via-Khandala episode that has patches of inspired derangement and giggle-inducing portrayals of desperation masquerading as sexual adventure. Radhika Apte nails Padma’s faked disgust; Konkona Sen Sharma is spot-on as the unhinged Shonali.

There’s a bit more scope for outre behaviour in Kiran Rao’s contribution, based on a story by her and Tanaji Dasgupta. Nail parlour employee Lisa (Sana Thampi) and pizza delivery worker Karan (Gurfateh Pirzada)...

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