Another movie that consists of 4 shorts, benefit always is that even if it doesn't click you feel time wasn't wasted. Very much like the past films Bombay Talkies, Lust Stories, Ghost Stories etc, Ajeeb Dastaans ends up as a mix of highs and lows together. 


Spoilers ahead... 


Majnu 
Directed by : Shashank Khaitan

Hum jab bhi kuch lete hai, toh badle mein kuch dete zaroor hai. 

Babloo (Jaideep Ahlawat) gets married to Lipakshi (Fatima Sana Shaikh) but on the first night informs her that he will never be able to give her love because he likes someone else and was forced by his father into this marriage. Its been some months, and  Raj (Armaan Ralhan) who is son of Babloo's driver, offers to help Babloo in his work but his intentions are to come closer to Lipakshi who herself gets fond of him. This short would had worked better if it stayed at the revenge theme (you get that twist very late), but the gay angle is so poorly done that I didn't really bothered about the ending then. Even actor like Jaideep Ahlawat looks out of touch here, or its just a case of how poor the script was. 


Khilauna
Directed by : Raj Mehta 

Kothiya mein rehne wale kabhi apne sage nahi ho sakte.

Meenal (Nushrratt Bharuccha), a housemaid changes the place she used to work at just because the male owner there could help the electricity cut issues she was facing at her small accomodation where she lives with her lover Shushil (Abhishek Banerjee) and little sister Binny (Inayat Verma). There's a party going for the new-born and an unusual incident makes Meenal and her lover prime suspect. This one works better, yet in parts only. The theme clearly is of poor vs rich, but it also tackles bad parenting that actually results in that very shocking final scene which you probably don't wanna remember ever (almost as disgusting as the one in Kingsman 2 movie). All the actors chip in with good performances, feel there was more scope in the execution of how rich treat poor and vice-versa, which may have made that final scene making more impact. Still a decent short for me. 


Geeli Pucchi
Directed by : Neeraj Ghaywan

Tumhe apne sach ko maan lena hoga, tabhi khush reh paayogi. 

Bharti Mandal (Konkana Sen Sharma), a Dalit and discretly gay, is the only female working at this industry, she is hard-working and wants promotion for a computer desk job. But it rather goes to new recruit Priya Sharma (Aditi Rao Hydari) who is bisexual. After initial apprehensions, Bharti forms a close bond with Priya having feelings for her but only to realise with time that she can never close the caste gap and all the discriminations that comes with it. I won't say it totally lives upto the hype I heard for this short, a tad slow I felt but still is the best of the lot. What works is Konkana Sen Sharma's brilliant performance, even her walk in the male dominated workplace looks so manly like her dressing as if she has so sunk up in the job when clearly her talent says she deserves lot more. Thats what the short explores, talent is always secondary, links and your status matters the most which is why I love the casting of Aditi Rao Hydari, because she is so sweet and cute that to hate her, which her character gives reasons at places, results in very contradictory situations. Love the office birthday scene, and the final one at Priya's residence. In the end you would take Bharti's side but its tricky, you still would feel Priya was somewhat hard done. 


Ankahi 
Directed by : Kayoze Irani 

Aapke honth jhooth bol sakte hai, par aapki aankhein hamesha sach bolti hai.

Natasha's (Shefali Shah) daughter Samaira (Sara Arjun) is slowly losing her hearing ability and her husband Rohan (Tata Roy Chowdhury) isn't willing to put in efforts of learning sign language or give time to Samaira. At a art gallery, Natasha happens to meet Kabir (Manav Kaul) who is a photographer and has a hearing/speech disability. They form a great bond with use of sign language but what will happen when Kabir learns reality of Natasha being a married woman. This is a very good effort from Kayoze Irani as his directorial debut, and it helps that he has got the terrific main lead actors, Shefali and Manav, both of them engaging you in every frame they are in.. a delight together which makes me wonder if Manav should do more of romantic movies, I can recall only Tumhari Sulu last one where also I liked him. Coming back to Ankahi, the final heartbreak scene works a lot here (unlike the case in Majnu), even if I could say it was little dramatic but I will still take it. 


Overall, Ajeeb Dastaans has 2 winners for me, Geeli Pucchi and Ankahi, both full of great performances, with former having an interesting theme and latter more of routine romance done in a nice way. Majnu was a total miss, while Khilauna has some likeable portions. 


My Rating : 6/10