Review: Ajeeb Dastaans (2021)
‘Ajeeb Daastans’ is a four-part anthology released by Dharmatic Entertainment on Netflix. Directed by four prolific directors, Shashank Khaitan, Raj Mehta, Neeraj Ghaywan and debutant Kayoze Irani, these shorts tell the story of love, longing, and battle ideas of caste and gender in all its subtlety.
Shashank Khaitan’s Majnu and Raj Mehta’s Khilona, both seem to be set in a similar universe as compared to the other two in the anthology. The first is a pulpy tale about a thuggish political leader, played by Jaideep Ahlawat, who is forced, into a “gatbandhan ki shaadi.” He abandons his wife on their wedding night which leads her to flirt outrageously with every man who crosses her path.
Mehta tried to comment on class divisions through his film, which saw Nushrratt Bharuccha gives her best shot at playing an alluring housemaid, trying to sustain herself and her daughter. However, for me, the plot did not land too well.
Debutant Irani’s short, Ankahi stars Manav Kaul and Shefali Shah in the lead roles, who speak volumes just with their minute expressions. It follows the story of Natasha, a struggling housewife, who tries to keep her life on track as her daughter loses her hearing. Her husband, who seems to be in denial, claims that he is too busy to learn sign language. As their bond is reduced to ‘screaming matches and silences’, Natasha finds refuge in friendship with Rohan, a hearing-impaired photographer.
However, my favourite out of the four, is writer-director Neeraj Ghaywan’s Geeli Pucchi. Starring Konkona Sen Sharma and Aditi Rao Hydari, it explores the complex encounter between Bharti, a Dalit worker, and Priya, a Brahmin data operator at her factory. The themes of patriarchy, ingrained prejudice, and loneliness are deeply rooted within this short.
A still from ‘Geeli Pucchi’.
According to a recent interview, Ghaywan had said that the caste was the first principle, and that sexuality was layered in much later, and that this idea was a sub-plot for his 2015 hit film ‘Masaan’.
Not only the writing, but the set design and costumes played a huge role in this short. Bharti, a Dalit worker was often seen wearing the colour blue, probably signifying the colour of the Ambedkar uprising of caste. However, what stole the piece of cake in this film, for me, is Konkona Sen Sharma’s performance and her sheer commitment to the character as well as Ghaywan’s use of nuanced subtle hints, as simple as a steel mug, to show the division between class and caste.
We’ve often been told that good cinema is one that moves its audience, or makes its audience feel. It is high time that Hindi cinema learns from such nuanced storytelling and churns out fresh and exciting content, which make the audience and viewers question such stereotypes, and face the issue at hand, just like Konkona did in Geeli Pucchi.
