Ajeeb Daastaans
Drama, Romance – 2h 22m
IMDb – 6.5/10
Ajeeb Daastaans Movie Review: Ajeeb Daastaans is basically an anthology of four short stories which takes us in depth of the relationships of four couples and how they are finding their personal spaces in their relationship.
Ajeeb Daastaans Movie Review – Plot
The anthology includes four short films of Neeraj Geeli Pucchi, Manju, Ankahi, and Khilunga.
The movie starts with Manju by Shashank Khaitan. This is a story of a married couple playing by Jaideep Ahlawat and Fatima Sana Shaikh who are trapped in a loveless marriage. The story primarily shows Indian society’s socio-economic imbalance in each scene. Though the storyline is quite predictable since we have already seen the trailer. But somewhere in the end the real story will hit you.
Secondly, if you talk about Gaali Pucchi, I must mention Konkana Sen Sharma and Aditi Hydari, brilliant in their respective roles that I could not take my eyes off the screen, they showcased two different faces of the problems of caste and class, prejudice, and discrimination.
Then there was Ankahi, a story by Kayoze Irani. Yes, you are guessing right. He is the son of renowned actor Boman Irani. Simple yet beautiful story. Shefali Shah who is an unhappily married, mother of a girl who has been slowly losing her hear power, and while that happening she started bonding with Manav Kaul who played the role of deaf-mute photographer. This story teaches us how a relationship should be like.
Last but definitely not the least, there was Khilaunga by Raj Mehta. This story revolves around a young woman maned Meenal who works in middle-class homes to pay for the education of her little sister Binny. The neighborhood’s ironing man Sushil is in love with her. I personally like the story because of his great ending to a rather monotonous tale. I keep remembering the scene over and over again just to make sure they are on the same page. And I won’t tell you more. To know the further story just watch the movie.
Ajeeb Daastaans Movie Review – Script analysis
The four stories take us through jealousy, prejudice, toxicity, rights, and full of dubiousness and struggles in the relationship. It also portrays people from recovering rejection, looking towards a fresh beginning, retreating to familiar routines, or tilting at difficult-to-bridge divides to construct a foundation for elusive happiness. The results are uneven as much for the fictional characters on the screen as for the anthology as a whole. These things are simple but highly relatable. Ajeeb Daastaans homes in on five women – an unloved small-town bride seeking to satiate her sexual desire, a maidservant walking the tightrope between self-preservation and exploitation in an upper-middle-class locality, two temperamentally divergent female employees of a chemical factory navigating the complex chemistry of their own lives, and a Mumbai woman caught between a daughter going deaf and a husband too busy to hear her entreaties. The plot is suspenseful, thrilling. The Geeli Pucchi has an exceptional story and a social commentary that lies upon an unflinching recognition of the complexities of caste and gender identities. Ankahi was well-acted, sensitive, and simple. The cinematography is good as well. Rest two attempts hard to keep up and that is all about it.
Ajeeb Daastaans Movie Review – Acting
Coming back acting, Arman Ralhan deserves to be mentioned. He was good looking and his raw acting was just perfect for the role he played. He manages to get the dialect perfectly and that makes his performance even better. As earlier I said, Aditi Hydari and Konkona Sen Sharma were fantastic. Shefali Shah pulls out of a stunner performance. You will be surprised that Jaideep Ahlawat is not putting too much on the plate. Then suddenly, in the last five minutes of his segment, he blows you away. Fatima Sana Sheikh did not do much though for the role. Overall, though, the performances are surprisingly good.
Ajeeb Daastaans Movie Review – Music
The music is good. Geeli Pucchi’s background score was stellar and that will ring it long after you are done watching the film.
Overall, if keep aside the prediction fact, it is quite a watch!
Why to watch
- Four strangely contrasting stories
- Women centric
- Moral dilemma of what’s right and what’s wrong, as the lines between them get blurred
- Emotions simmering under fractured relationships
- Tale of love, sex, affair and dhoka
- Fatima Sana Shaikh, Jaideep Ahlawat, Armaan Ralhan, Nushrratt Bharuccha, Abhishek Banerjee, Konkana Sen Sharma, Aditi Rao Hydari, Shefali Shah and Manav Kau
Watch it on Netfllix
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