This month’s streaming picks provide a variety of pleasures, from tangled romances and murder mysteries to arranged-marriage chaos and a gangster’s cinematic ambitions.
Lust Stories 3 (Hindi) Netflix
There’s that unmistakable snap in the air with the arrival of autumn, but sparks are flying — hot and heavy — between the protagonists of the Lust Stories anthology. The third installment brings together films by Vikramaditya Motwane (CTRL), Kiran Rao (Laapataa Ladies), Shakun Batra (Gehraiyaan), and Vishal Bhardwaj (O’Romeo). Motwane kicks things off with two 40-something best friends and colleagues, Padma (Radhika Apte) and Shonali (Konkona Sen Sharma). Stuck in sexless marriages, Shonali declares that they deserve a “decade of great sex” and suggests they swap husbands to spice things up. Padma has her reservations but is equally desperate to get her marriage — and sex life — out of a rut. Will they actually see this rather bold plan through? Rao’s segment comes with double trouble, as twins Karan and Arjun (Gurfateh Pirzada) both get involved with Lisa (Sana Thampi), a nail technician who is fully aware of their deception — and has plans of her own for the brothers. Batra’s story follows Varun (Ali Fazal, showing off his acting chops) and Sailee (Radhika Madan), a couple in the throes of separation who are struggling to keep their carnal attraction to each other in check. Are they using sex as a form of therapy, or simply finding another reason not to let go?
The final segment, from Bhardwaj, stars real-life couple Aditi Rao Hydari and Siddharth as Saira and Badru, a married couple very much in love. But Saira wants more — more nuance and more excitement. The anthology is a mixed bag, with each story offering moments that sparkle alongside a few missed opportunities.
Babita Singh Reporting (Hindi) Amazon Prime Video
Babita Singh Reporting begins with a murder, but its more intriguing mystery is the woman at the center of it. Babita Singh (Nimisha Sajayan) is drawn into the killing of her childhood friend Bansi Seni and becomes determined to find whoever is responsible. Her search takes her through the familiar terrain of a small-town murder investigation — suspects, rumors, shifting loyalties, and plenty of people with reasons to keep their mouths shut. But the film becomes much more compelling when it steps away from the question of who killed Bansi and spends time with Babita herself. Known as “Baby” — a nickname that carries as much patronizing affection as warmth — Babita is a police officer who entered the profession following the death of her father. She is frequently given the thankless jobs, is blamed when a superior makes a mistake, and ends up suspended for two weeks. Her enforced break takes her to her in-laws’ home in Rewa, where she is subjected to digs about her appearance and the usual pressures to conform.
Sajayan’s performance is particularly effective because the change is visible without becoming theatrical. She reportedly gained weight for the role, and her physicality becomes part of the character’s evolution. The Babita we meet is tentative and self-conscious; as the story progresses, Sajayan subtly alters her bearing, gaze, and confi- dence. It feels less like a makeover than a woman finally taking up the space she has been denied.
Modha Rathiri (Tamil) Netflix
The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), which I recently attended, has a way of leading one from one film to another. I first came across Rishikanth, the lead in Modha Rathiri, in Dorothy, Karthik Subbaraj’s Tamil feature that had its world premiere at the festival this year. His performance stayed on my radar, and between screenings I went looking for something else he had done. That is how I landed on Modha Rathiri, Raja Karuppasamy’s debut feature — a very different kind of Tamil film, and a very different side of Rishikanth.
Set in the town of Thekoor, the film revolves around Maruthanyagam “Maruthu” (Rishikanth) and Muthuselvi “Muthu” (Anishma Anilkumar), whose wedding is arranged by their families. Maruthu has spent five years in Dubai following the suicide of his former girlfriend, whose family had opposed their relationship. Persuaded by his brother-in-law Kannan, he agrees to go ahead with the wedding. Muthu, meanwhile, wants no part of the arrangement. Her mother disapproves of her relationship with her boyfriend, and despite Muthu’s attempts to escape and her boyfriend’s efforts to rescue her, she ends up married to Maruthu. The real fun begins on their wedding night, when Muthu makes another attempt to leave. Maruthu catches her, and the unlikely pair decide to meet her boyfriend so she can elope. But things don’t go according to plan, leaving the newlyweds in an increasingly awkward situation.
Jigarthanda Double X (Tamil) Netflix
My Dorothy rabbit hole continued with Jigarthanda DoubleX, Karthik Subbaraj’s 2023 prequel to Jigarthanda (2014). Set in the 1970s, it takes the filmmaker-versus-gangster setup of the earlier film and moves it into a story involving the police, politics, an Indigenous community, and a gangster with ambitions of becoming a film star. S.J. Suryah plays Kiruban, a young policeman who is sent on a covert mission to kill Alliyus Caesar (Raghava Lawrence), a gangster operating out of Madurai. To get close to him, Kiruban assumes the identity of a filmmaker and pitches a movie based on Caesar’s life. Caesar, an enthusiastic admirer of Clint Eastwood, is delighted by the prospect of seeing himself on screen. What starts as an undercover operation becomes increasingly complicated as Kiruban spends more time with Caesar and begins filming his world. His investigation eventually takes him into the forests of Tamil Nadu, where he encounters a tribal community facing violence and exploitation, and discovers that the gangster he was sent to eliminate is part of a much bigger story. Raghava Lawrence gives Caesar an imposing presence, but the character is not simply presented as a ruthless criminal. His fascination with cinema becomes an important part of how he sees himself, while Kiruban gradually moves from someone carrying out an assignment to someone confronting what that assignment actually means. The film also gives Subbaraj room to explore the politics surrounding cinema. Caesar wants to become an actor, Kiruban is pretending to be a filmmaker, and the camera eventually becomes a way of recording events.
Baisakhi Roy is the editor of Canadian Immigrant. Her work has appeared in leading Canadian media outlets, including The Globe and Mail, Toronto Star, and CBC. She specializes in stories at the intersection of immigrant life and culture in Canada, with a strong focus on workplace issues and diversity.