The third part of the Lust Stories series brings together four filmmakers with different storytelling styles.Vikramaditya Motwane, Kiran Rao, Shakun Batra, and Vishal Bhardwaj each directed a segment of the latest anthology, exploring various aspects of relationships, intimacy, and desire.
Producer Ashi Dua recently talked to Bollywood Hungama about making Lust Stories 3 and shared details about the creative process behind the four stories.
She talked about how each director approached the project, including Motwane thinking of many ideas before choosing his final story.
Ashi described Motwane as one of the best filmmakers in the country and said he had several ideas for his segment before coming up with the one that made it into the film.
She said, "He is one of the finest filmmakers that we have, and of course we were very excited to go to him, and he did have a couple of other ideas that he wanted to do before the story finally happened.
And we were pushing for something easier and fun.Then he came up with this idea, and then we all immediately fell in love, and we thought it was very fun and very easy and very unlike Vikram."
Ashi also praised Motwane's casting choices, especially bringing Konkona Sen Sharma and Radhika Apte together.
She added, "And then when he had the casting idea that he had with Konkona Sen and Radhika Apte, it was just great.
Like you had two of the best actresses and it just worked out with him.It was a process.There were two other films, two stories that he had in mind, and by the time we arrived at the story it was a process, but I'm glad we stuck to this one."
Kiran Rao's first idea impressed the team. According to Ashi, Rao was the only filmmaker among the four whose very first idea was immediately embraced by the entire team.She said they had expected Rao to come up with something more serious, but were surprised by the mainstream and thriller elements in her story.
She said, "Kiran was the only one out of the four whose first idea we all loved. Really, this was the first story she came up with, and we all loved it."
She added, "The thing is, we also thought Kiran is going to come up with something a little more serious, but then this was like, oh, this is like really mainstream and commercial and really fun and had a thrill element to it, which people will watch."
Ashi credited Rao and producer-writer Tanaji Dasgupta for presenting the story in a way that immediately connected with the team.
She said, "And instantly when she narrated, she and her producer, Tanaji Dasgupta, who's written the story, narrated it to us and all of us loved it."
Ashi Dua recalls the challenge of working with Vishal Bhardwaj.
Working with Bhardwaj was a different experience for the team, especially because of his long history and status as a filmmaker.Ashi admitted the creative process involved a lot of back-and-forth, but said Bhardwaj remained open to feedback.
She said, "The minute it becomes somebody as senior as Vishal, doing back and forth becomes really hard because we've literally watched his movies when we were in school, and look at his body of work, like it's great."
She continued, "It was very hard, but even with him there was a lot of back and forth on story ideas, and he's such a sport, and he's so amazing, and he surrounds himself with a lot of young people, all his ads and his everybody's, his writers and he's very open."
Ashi also praised Bhardwaj for being open to feedback despite his experience.
"If he tells you something and you tell him, Vishal ji, we don't understand it, so he's like, oh okay."
"So he's really open to hearing people out, and he was really open to our feedback.
He's been super cooperative through the whole process," she said.
When talking about the filmmaker's part, Ashi added, "And he's also done something really enjoyable."
Shakun Batra brings a relationship drama to Lust Stories 3
Ashi also spoke highly of Shakun Batra, explaining that he had written two scripts before the team finally settled on the story that ended up in the anthology.
"He also came up with two scripts, which were really great too.
Then we all decided to go with this one," she said.
Ashi described Batra as a filmmaker from her generation and praised his earlier work, especially Kapoor & Sons.
She was excited when he chose to focus on a relationship drama for Lust Stories 3.
"He's more from our generation as a filmmaker, and his previous film, like Kapoor & Sons, is one of my favorite films.
I think it's in my top five of the last 10 years," Ashi said.
She also praised his way of handling characters and relationships, adding, "I was really excited when he decided to do this relationship drama for Lust Stories.
And Shakun is so sensitive when it comes to storytelling, creating characters, and building relationships.It's just really beautiful."
According to Ashi, the final version of Batra's story went beyond what the team had initially read in the script.
"When we finally got to the story, from what we read to what's actually on screen, I think he's made it even better than we expected, and we're really happy with that story too," she concluded.
