Ajeeb Daastaans , ‘Geeli Pucchi’ the aditi rao hydri and konkana’s unique friendship story outshines all stories in this anthology. The story impresses you with its skilled writing and even clever direction, highlighting the plight of a woman living in an unfair world: first, for being a woman in a male-dominated factory, then for being Dalit and then for choosing to be fearless.
Ghaywan casting is brilliant too, with the actress in his story giving extraordinarily impactful performance especially Konkona Sen Sharma who is entrusted with the battered-but-not-broken Bharti Mandal.
Ghyan draws a beautiful chemistry by marrying the loneliness of Bharti with a seemingly chirpy and upbeat Priya Sharma (Aditi Rao Hydari) whose privileged life and upbringing is a stark contrast to the life of hardships Bharti endures.
Ajeeb Daastaans anthology what shines?
Loses out on the promotion to Priya for not ‘knowing excel’, her pet is not allowed to poop on ‘their’ side of the colony and she is not even seen or acknowledged as a woman. It doesn’t help either that Bharti is pining for her former lover.
What really stands out in this story is that there are no saviours in Bharti’s story: the same Dalit woman who is treated harshly for A) being a woman, and B) for being a Dalit. Ghaywan’s Meela is a strong, feisty lady with shades of grey to her persona. She doesn’t hanker after the one who breaks her heart, instead, employs deceit and manipulation to snatch what should have been hers in the first place.
This kind of bold depiction of a woman from a marginalised community is a difficult subject to deal with but the writer and the director dealt with the subject with objectivity, and the climax leaves you with a thought that you almost want Bharti to destroy Priya. Not for being conniving, no. But for snubbing her for being, well, her.
There are very few actresses who can emote their inner turmoil with just their face muscles the way Konkona can. ‘Geeli Pucchi’ is no different. Aditi Rao Hydari has her own battles as the privileged kid who doesn’t know how to love: both literally and figuratively. The actress, with her ever-so-charming demeanour and childlike innocence, portrays a different kind of picture for struggle: patriarchy, lack of understanding of her sexual identity and what not. This story moves from one glaring societal issue to another with sheer smoothness and before you know it, you have seen it all in a matter of close to 30 minutes.
The other story by Raj Mehta—titled ‘Khilauna’— is a major deviation from its predecessor and delves deep into socio-economic concerns that have been prevalent in the community for ages. The climax, which is again served as a ‘startling revelation’, is one that’s well thought out and gives the audience something to ponder upon.
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the anthology opens with the first snippet ‘Majnu’ by Shashank Khaitan. A much younger and sexually liberated Lipakshi (Fatima Sana Shaikh) is married to emotionally and physically unavailable local goon Babloo bhaiya. She is a lonely princess—of political nature—stuck eternally in her majestic mansion.
The anthology Ajeeb Daastaans is currently streaming on Netflix