Ajeeb Daastaans: The Good And The Bad
By our team of in-house writers.
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First publised on 2021-04-20 14:46:02
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By our team of in-house writers.
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Ajeeb Daastaans (streaming on Netflix) is an anthology of four short films (Majnu, Khilauna, Geeli Pucchi and Ankahi) directed by four different directors (Shashank Khaitan, Raj Mehta, Neeraj Ghaywan and Kayoze Irani). Geeli Pucchi, directed by Neeraj Ghaywan, is excellent, Ankahi by Kayoze Irani is good while the other two fail to make the grade.
In the first story, Majnu, a gay bahubali is forced to marry and he tells his wife upfront that he will not love her. When she asks him what he expects of her, he tells her to maintain the maryada of the household. But she does anything but that. She is shown flirting with every male in sight even thoug those caught with her have their genitals fried in boiling oil. But when the son of the driver returns with a fancy degree, the bahubali takes a liking to him and forces him into his employ by not letting him take up a job in London. His wife also takes a liking to the man and their affair takes a serious turn when they plan to flee. How the revenge and betrayal pans out is what the film is about. But all characters seem hollow and mouth inane lines. The viewer interest flags. Jaideep Ahlawat, otherwise a fine actor, is wasted here and so is Fatima Sana Sheikh. Shashank Khaitan fails to tell the story properly in the time available.
The second story, Khilauna, is shallower. Nushrat Bharucha is a total misfit in the role of a house help who is bringing up her younger sister. Writer Sumit Saxena spins out unbelievable situations and director Raj Mehta is unable to breathe life in the characters. A fine actor like Abhishek Banerjee is totally wasted. The climax is just to shock, in keeping with the overall title of the stories being ajeeb.
Geeli Pucchi has too much on the plate but Neeraj Ghyawan manages to carry it off with aplomb. His casting is perfect and both Konkona Sen Sharma and Aditi Rao Hyadri are brilliant. Class conflict, discrimination against women and a girl not able to come to terms with her sexuality are all tackled brilliantly in this short film. Although the ending is a bit abrupt, it does not take anything away from the brilliance of the film.
Ankahi has Shefali Shah and Manav Kaul is superb form as a couple who meet accidently and fall in love (?) as he has both speech and hearing impairment while she understand sign language as her daughter is hearing impaired. It helps that Shefaliâs husband is so engrossed in his work that he does not have time for both her and their daughter. At one point Manav Kaul tells Shefali that people can lie with words but their eyes cannot lie. In the end, when Shefali sees that her husband is bonding with their daughter, she leaves Kaul and he tells her that she managed to lie even with her eyes. The film keeps the viewer engaged.
