Edited by – Aashwin Shanker.

Ajeeb Daastaans is a Netflix original movie consisting of four short stories directed by Shashank Khaitan, Raj Mehta, Neeraj Ghaywan and Kayoze Irani. Produced by Karan Johar and Apoorva Mehta. The film was released on Netflix on 16 April, 2021.

Majnu – Directed by Shashank Khaitan starring Fatima Sana Shaikh as Lipakshi, Jaideep Ahlawat as Babloo and Armaan Ralhan as Raj. Majnu is the story of Lipakshi and Babloo who are bound in a loveless marriage because Babloo was gay. Lipakshi then tries to find love in other men and meets Raj. Both then plans of eloping after their love making. Lipakshi runs from the house and waits for Raj. Babloo receives a video of Raj where he reveals he made love with Lipakshi and stole a sum 10 crores from him. Babloo finds Lipakshi at the station and both remorse over being betrayed.

Khilauna – Directed by Raj Mehta starring Nushrat Bharucha as Meenal, Abhishek Banerjee as Sushil, Inayat Verma as Binny and Manesh Verma as Vinod Agarwal. Khilauna is a story about Meenal, Binny, Vinod and Sushil. Meenal works as a maid in Vinod’s house and loves Sushil. Vinod disliked Sushil. Vinod threw a party in his house for his newborn son. The story travels back and forth. The police are investigating Meenal and Sushil for the death of Vinod’s little baby. In the party the baby goes missing and Vinod sees blood coming out of the pressure cooker. The story ends with Binny being interrogated for why she took the toy of the baby for which she replied “wo bacha nahi khilauna tha”.

Geeli Pucchi – Directed by Neeraj Ghaywan starring Konkona Sen Sharma as Bharti Mandal, Aditi Rao Hydari as Priya Sharma and Sreedhar Dubey as Priya’s husband. Geeli Pucchi is the story of Bharti and Priya. Bharti was a lesbian but she never showed that infront of anyone nor did she said this to Priya. Both worked in the same company. Priya was given the job that Bharti deserved. Both develop a bond. Later Priya reveals her husband is forcing her to have a baby. Bharti tells Priya to go ahead and conceive a baby. Priya gave birth to a new baby and Bharti worked in place of Priya. When Shiv says Priya would be joining the job soon Bharti suggests her to take rest and hence Bharti completely takes over the job of Priya.

Ankahi – Directed by Kayoze Irani starring Shefali Shah as Natasha, Manav Kaul as Kabir and Tota Roy Chowdhary as Rohan and Sara Arjun as Samaira. Ankahi is the story of a family where Natasha and Rohan’s child Samaira is on verge of going deaf and Natasha fights Rohan to learn sign language and spend time with her daughter but Rohan was too busy with his work. Natasha meets a man Kabir who is deaf. Both start developing a bond. One night Natasha and Kabir stay together. The next day Natasha reaches home and finds Rohan talking with Samaira in sign language. Kabir was following Natasha to let know that he is in love with her. But when Kabir saw Rohan talking with Samaira he didn’t express what was in his heart. He didn’t want to ruin a family for his love for the woman. Samaira sees this and asks her mother, Did that man love you?

All the short stories have an abrupt ending; still it’s a bucket full of romance, drama and suspense. All the artists have performed exceptionally well and the film is amazingly good!

Don’t hesitate in giving it a try. Trust me you will thank me later!

-Komal-