Published 14:16 IST, January 2nd 2020
'Ghost Stories' explained; detailed review of the horror anthology starring Janhvi Kapoor
Ghost Stories explained! Read below to know what the horror anthology directed by Zoya Akhtar, Dibakar Banerjee, Karan Johar and Anurag Kashyap is all about.
- Entertainment News
- 4 min read
Netflix released its latest anthology of short films titled Ghost Stories on January 1, 2020. The four different short films are directed by Zoya Akhtar, Anurag Kashyap, Dibakar Banerjee and Karan Johar, who previously directed Lust Stories for Netflix. The film's tagline reads 'Your Fears Will Find You'. The directors have evidently used the tagline to push a much broader idea of fear rather than depending on the conventional formula of jump scares and spirits. Ghost Stories has also ventured into the psychological aspects of horror. Below are all the four short films from Ghost Stories broken down and explained.
Disclaimer - Spoiler ahead
Zoya Akhtar's short film
Zoya Akhtar's short film features Janhvi Kapoor in the lead role. Jahnvi plays the character of a nurse who is taking care of an old lady. It is later revealed that Janhvi was actually nursing a ghost all this while at the end of the short. The film talks about the meaning of being able-bodied. During one scene, Janhvi's character is reminded by the old lady that if she is living in a healthy body and mind, she need not wait for anyone. Both the characters are seen living in parallels as Janhvi's character is waiting for her married boyfriend to pay attention to her, while the sick old lady is waiting for her son to come to visit her before passing away.
Anurag Kashyap's short film
Anurag Kashyap horror story leans heavily into reality and bases its characters in a backdrop of psychological terrors. Sobhita Dhulipala is essaying the character of a woman trying to conceive a baby after going through a miscarriage. Sobhita's character is seen being in paranoia when she is pregnant for the second time. The only concern she has is that the baby she is carrying is not harmed in any way. On the other hand, Sobhita's character also has a nephew who is obsessed with her as he doesn't have a biological mother. He shares an emotional dependency with Sobhita's character which doesn't allow him to be happy about his aunty's pregnancy. Sobhita's character ultimately loses the grip of reality as she loses her second child too, her nephew is seen being happy about not having to share his aunty's love with anyone else.
Dibakar Banerjee's short film
Dibakar Banerjee's short film reportedly takes inspiration from the zombie genre of horror. The lead character of the film comes to know that people out of two districts have been eating each other due to hatred. The hatred the two districts share has turned people into animal-like creatures, hungry to eat other people. The lead of the film sets on a path to rescue two children from this grave situation, but one kid ends up dead while the second one turns into an animal. The film showcases furthermore that to save oneself, they need to join the system or get eaten. The lead ends up joining the system at the end of the short film.
Karan Johar's short film
Mrunal Thakur essays the role of Ira who has found a match through an arranged marriage. Ira comes to know as soon as she gets married that the family talks about their dead grandmother as if she was alive. Though Ira finds this behaviour to be manic, she tries to solve the issue. She is unable to solve the issue and starts asking the family if their grandmother ever existed. As an answer, the family kills Ira and she meets the grandmother on the other side along with all the people who ever questioned the family's grandmother's existence.
Updated 14:16 IST, January 2nd 2020