Ajeeb Daastaans release: Netflix's latest, and highly-anticipated, anthology Ajeeb Daastaans has opened to a nod from the audience upon its release on April 16. The film comprising four shorts, and featuring a stellar ensemble, is being lauded on social media for its deep focus on topical issues that are impacting so many today - from exploring one's sexuality to grappling with insufficient marriages to tackling domestic harassment.
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Produced by Karan Johar and directed by Shashank Khaitan, Raj Mehta, Neeraj Ghaywan and Kayoze Irani, Ajeeb Daastaanslooks at our world as it really is - complex, multilayered, unequal and twisted. Much of each short is largely centred around its women - Konkona Sensharma, Shefali Shah, Aditi Rao Hydari, Nushrratt Bharuccha, Fatima Sana Shaikh - who drive the main themes of the story forward.
Ajeeb Daastaans Release Draws Favourable Reviews
Though its direction and plot can be subjectively perceived, what stands out in Ajeeb Daastaans is the common thread of society's patriarchal limitations that all directors have chosen to highlight.
In Ghaywan's short, for instance, a queer relationship between Sensharma and Hydari's characters is explored as it navigates through its nascent stages of insecurity and hesitation. "The way we approach movies and things in India is that we always see things in silos, in isolation… Subalterns are also seen as a whole but they are always intersectional in nature. That’s what I wanted to do in this film. Intersectionality is the theme of this film," the director explained.
The Shah and Manav Kaul-starrer, directed by Irani, meanwhile goes deep into messy spaces of a marriage breaking down, inadequate parenting and finding love outside of marriage on your own terms. Here's what Shah had to say about her role.
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