Reviewed By: Namita Tribhuwan
The trailer of Ajeeb Daastaans excited me to watch it as the star cast is a powerhouse of talent and glamour.
With Ajeeb Daastaans Karan Johar and Apoorva Mehta come with another anthology of four twisted short stories that dwell on topics like revenge, love, entitlement, homosexuality, jealousy, lust in a span of more than two hours. Every story reveals a shocking end.
Majnu:
It’s a typical Indian story of a wedding that is carried out just for a business arrangement in a large mansion and puts the girl in a state with no marital happiness where she meets a guy with mystery around him.
Fatima Sana Shaikh gives a nuanced performance, and she has never looked this beautiful before in any other movie. Jaideep Ahlawat gets to play a role quite different from his usual style and he has aced it in the last few minutes. Armaan Ralhan, the new hero on the block is here to stay and he gets his act right. The story has all the right ingredients but it’s not gripping enough.
Khilauna:
In Khilauna, Nushrat Bharucha has been portrayed as a house help which does not look real, on the other hand Abhishek Banerjee has portrayed his role well…but the plot is very predictive.
The story is stitched in a way that the mystery is well managed, and you keep your guessing hat on. The climax gives you chills down your spine but the way they showed the possibility of crime carried out is next to impossible.
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Geeli Pucchi:
Ajeeb Daastaans starts getting better with its third story, in which both the lead characters are spot on. One can appreciate the brilliance of veteran Konkana Sen Sharma every time she has surprised us with her intelligent performance and so has Aditi Rao Hydari. Both these girls have played their part with grace.
The plot is bang on; it covers the topic of societal differences that still exists in this world. It’s a story of two friends who are grilled because of these differences.
Ankahi – This is the Best one.
Shefali Shah and Manav Kaul are brilliant in Ankahi, this story is fresh, light, and makes you think about life from a different perspective. The complexity of life is shown in a wonderful way that we usually overlook. The use of music was thoughtful in this film where we have to focus more on deafness and sign language as evocation of feelings. There are some scenes like someone is willingly refusing to hear, that look very unreal. But the dramatic end in Shefali and Manav’s relationship guarantees that the heartbreak of Manav’s character will straighten his mind for real.
The World of Movies Rating – 9/10
Movie Title: Ajeeb Daastaans
Directed By: Shashank Khaitan, Raj Mehta, Neeraj Ghaywan, Kayoze Irani
Written By: Shashank Khaitan, Sumit Saxena, Neeraj Ghaywan, Uzma Khan
Ajeeb Daastaans Cast: Fatima Sana Shaikh as Lipakshi, Jaideep Ahlawat as Babloo, Nushrat Bharucha as Meenal, Abhishek Banerjee as Sushil, Konkona Sen Sharma as Bharti Mandal, Aditi Rao Hydari as Priya Sharma, Shefali Shah as Natasha, Manav Kaul as Kabir.
Year of Release: 2021
Genre: Drama, Romance
Country of Origin: India
Languages: Hindi
Running Time: 142 minutes
Production Company: Dharmatic Entertainment
Distributed by: Netflix
*Images created from screenshots captured from the movie.