Film Review: Ghost Stories

Not to be confused with A Ghost Story, or the 2018 British anthology film, Ghost Stories, which is also quite good, this Ghost Stories is an Indian horror anthology film that hit Netflix at the start of the new year, and it serves as a spiritual successor to Bombay Talkies and Lust Stories (the latter of which was also a Netflix release). It continues the collaboration between filmmakers Zoya Akhtar, Anurag Kashyap, Karan Johar, and Dibakar Banerjee as they each make a short that follows the general theme of the piece. For Bombay Talkies, it was a celebration of Indian cinema, for Lust Stories, the shorts explored love and sex in modern India, and for Ghost Stories…well…the title pretty much says it all.

Although, oddly enough, not all of the four segments are ghost stories. The first short – from Zoya Akhtar – follows a caretaker (played by Janhvi Kapoor) who takes on a new gig watching over a seemingly senile old woman, but finds herself feeling like there is another presence in the house. The second short – from Anurag Kashyap – is essentially about a woman’s (Sobhita Dhulipala) descent into madness with elements of evil kid tropes and body horror. The third segment – from Dibakar Banerjee – is an allegorical monster story that is somewhat comparable to zombies. And we end on the film’s other ghost story – from Karan Johar – which is about a woman (Mrunal Thakur), who seems to be entering a new stage in her life after getting married, only to find out her husband (Avinash Tiwary) has a habit of talking to his dead grandmother.

Like with their previous films in this anthology series, the shorts don’t have any connection beyond the general theme, and that is taken the furthest here since there isn’t any real unifying idea behind these shorts. It’s like each of the filmmakers had an idea for a horror short, and decided to just stick them all together. That isn’t bad, in and of itself, but it can make for a somewhat disjointed experience, especially since they each bring a distinct style and tone. Akhtar’s short is the most straightforward genre exercise, Kashyap dabbles in surrealism, Banerjee’s segment is the goriest and touches on political themes that aren’t present in the other shorts, and Johar’s closer is the most broad, most campy of the bunch, with its tongue firmly pressed against its cheek.

Each short has a lot going for it, which isn’t too surprising since these are all filmmakers who have their craft down by this point in their careers, and it’s cool seeing them explore a genre that none of them have really tapped into prior to this anthology. They each bring some fun and interesting ideas, engaging craftsmanship, and a stellar showcase for the actors to dig into some dark and icky territory. Like with most anthologies, there are some that I enjoyed more than others. I would consider Akhtar’s segment to be my favorite because her direction was very precise and suspenseful, and I liked how she had a complicated woman at the center of all the action, since outside of her work, the caretaker is having an affair with a married man, and she is constantly calling him, trying to meet up. There’s a fascinating dynamic at play, and it would’ve have been neat to explore in a longer narrative.

Kashyap’s short is fascinating given its bizarre turns, but it’s not quite as cohesive as it could be, especially in how it combines several different genres. Certain questions are left unanswered, but it left me more frustrated than intrigued, but I was engaged nonetheless. Banerjee features some of the most intense moments in the entire film. The monsters are terrifying, and while I feel like some of the theming went over my head – likely due to my own ignorance – there are some interesting moments and ideas that suggested he had more in mind than just making a mindless zombie story. Johar’s short is very entertaining, and makes for a good note to end the film on. It matches the cheeky nature that was promised with the film’s animated opening credits sequence, and it features some really fun performances.

I didn’t ultimately find Ghost Stories to be as great and as fulfilling as either Bombay Talkies or Lust Stories, but there is still plenty of fun to be had, especially for fans of the genre. Each short brings something different to the table, and the filmmakers throw some wild, creepy, and unsettling imagery that I found very effective at points. You can kind of tell that some of this is uncharted waters for some of them, and it allows them to play around with the form in interesting, ambitious, and compelling ways, even if it is occasionally messy and uneven. It’s a swift watch, and one that I found fairly entertaining and engaging for its hefty two-and-a-half hour runtime. At the very least, it makes me hopeful to see these filmmakers continue to explore different themes and genres in another anthology film in the future.