Vikramaditya Motwane discusses crafting a Lust Stories segment about two women reviving a sexless marriage, stressing he refused to assume authority over female desire. He constantly consulted women, including leads Radhika Apte and Konkona Sen Sharma, treating the script as a collaborative, corrective process to ensure authenticity and avoid a male‑gaze misrepresentation of their sexuality and emotional reality.
When it comes to depicting female desire on screen, Vikramaditya Motwane knew there was one thing he did not want to do: assume he already had the answers.
Speaking about his Lust Stories 3 short during a recent conversation with THR India, Motwane opened up about the process of portraying two women attempting to bring energy back into their respective sexless marriages, and the responsibility that came with framing their desire from a male filmmaker’s perspective.
“I asked everybody,” Motwane said, explaining that he deliberately sought perspectives from women throughout the filmmaking process. “I didn’t want to be the guy directing the women to be able to explain this.”
For Motwane, getting the story right involved more than simply writing the screenplay. He described the process as an ongoing conversation, with people around him reading the material and questioning whether certain moments felt authentic.
Actors Radhika Apte and Konkona Sen Sharma, who lead the film, became an important part of that process, allowing him to test his instincts while remaining open to being challenged.
“I would throw ideas out there and there was like a committee for approval,” he explained. The intention, he added, was not to claim ownership over the depiction of female desire, and to make sure he was not getting it wrong.
The film also explores how desire can be shaped by fantasy. The women in the film watch a Korean show and begin to look towards its world as an aspirational version of romance and sexuality. Their own desires become entangled with what they believe they should want, creating a tension between fantasy and reality.
“That’s where the film lies,” Motwane said, pointing towards the distinction between what the characters actually want and what they initially believe they want.
Featuring segments by Motwane, Kiran Rao, Vishal Bhardwaj and Shakun Batra, Lust Stories 3 premieres on Netflix on September 18.
Watch the full conversation on The Hollywood Reporter India's YouTube channel at 8 pm tonight.