Archive · 18 Sep 2026
Bhardwaj’s Literary Influences Shape Lust Stories 3 Segment
Vishal Bhardwaj directed one short film for Lust Stories 3.
It takes place in Hyderabad in 1987.
The main character, Saira, teaches Urdu literature.
She uses poems and books to express her feelings for her husband.
Bhardwaj got ideas from old literature, poet Bashir Badr and writer Anaïs Nin.
He wanted to show that people can sometimes mistake desire for love.
Aditi Rao Hydari and Siddharth play the married couple in the story.
They said acting romantically together was still work because they had to become their characters.
The film will premiere on Netflix on September 18.
Vishal Bhardwaj drew on 19th-century literature, Bashir Badr’s poetry and Anaïs Nin’s erotica for his Lust Stories 3 segment.
Set in 1987 Hyderabad, the story follows Saira, an Urdu literature professor, and her husband, a homeopathic doctor.
Bhardwaj said poetry can transform lust into something perceived as love, while social pressures can also obscure desire.
Aditi Rao Hydari and Siddharth play the couple and said their real-life marriage did not make filming intimate scenes automatically easier.
The segment premieres on Netflix on September 18 and presents Siddharth’s character as an object of desire.
- Who
- Filmmaker Vishal Bhardwaj, actors Aditi Rao Hydari and Siddharth, and the fictional characters Saira and her husband.
- What
- Bhardwaj directed a short film exploring desire, love, poetry and literature for Lust Stories 3.
- When
- The segment premieres on Netflix on September 18; its story is set in 1987.
- Where
- The story is set in Hyderabad.
- Why
- Bhardwaj wanted to explore desire through a woman’s perspective using literature, poetry and Hyderabad’s cultural texture.
- Director
- Vishal Bhardwaj
- Anthology
- Lust Stories 3
- Setting
- Hyderabad in 1987
- Central character
- Saira, an Urdu literature professor
- Literary influences
- 19th-century literature, Bashir Badr and Anaïs Nin
- Lead actors
- Aditi Rao Hydari and Siddharth
- Release platform
- Netflix
- Premiere date
- September 18
