''Dus Kahaniyaan'' () is a 2007 Indian

anthology film An anthology film (also known as an omnibus film, package film, or portmanteau film) is a single film consisting of several shorter films, each complete in itself and distinguished from the other, though frequently tied together by a single theme ...

comprising ten

short film A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...

s telling ten different stories which are directed by a host of six directors:

Sanjay Gupta Sanjay Gupta (born October 23, 1969) is an American neurosurgeon, medical reporter, and writer. He serves as associate chief of the neurosurgery service at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia, associate professor of neurosurgery at t ...

Apoorva Lakhia Apoorva Lakhia is an Indian film director. Early life Lakhia was born and brought up in Ahmedabad, India. He was educated at the Lawrence School, Sanawar. He dropped out of a filmmaking course in New York University to assist Mira Nair on ''T ...

Meghna Gulzar Meghna Gulzar is an Indian writer, film director, director and film producer, producer. She is best known for directing of Bollywood film Raazi in 2018. After debuting as a screenwriter with her father's 1999 directorial ''Hu Tu Tu'', Meghn ...

, Rohit Roy,

Hansal Mehta Hansal Mehta (born 29 April 1968) is an Indian filmmaker. He started his career with television show ''Khana Khazana'' (1993–2000) and later moved on to directing films like ''Dil Pe Mat Le Yaar!!'' (2000), '' Yeh Kya Ho Raha Hai?'' (2002) an ...

and Jasmeet Dhodhi. The film features an

ensemble cast In a dramatic production, an ensemble cast is one that is composed of multiple principal actors and performers who are typically assigned roughly equal amounts of screen time.Random House: ensemble acting Linked 2013-07-17 Structure In contrast t ...

comprising

Sanjay Dutt Sanjay Balraj Dutt (born 29 July 1959) is an Indian actor who primarily works in Hindi cinema. In a career spanning over four decades, Dutt has won several accolades and acted in over 100 films, ranging from romance to comedy genres, though u ...

Suniel Shetty Suniel Shetty (born Sunil V. Shetty; 11 August 1961) is an Indian actor, film producer, television personality and entrepreneur who is predominantly active in Hindi films he has also worked in tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and kannada films. In a c ...

Nana Patekar Vishwanath Patekar (born 1 January 1951), better known as Nana Patekar, is an Indian actor, screenwriter, film maker, and a former Indian Territorial Army officer, mainly working in Hindi and Marathi cinema. He is regarded as one of the finest an ...

Naseeruddin Shah Naseeruddin Shah (born 20 July 1950) is an Indian actor. He is notable in Indian parallel cinema. He has also starred in international productions. He has won numerous awards in his career, including three National Film Awards, three Filmfare ...

Manoj Bajpayee Manoj Bajpayee (born 23 April 1969), also transliterated as Manoj Bajpai, is an Indian actor who predominantly works in Hindi cinema and has also done Telugu and Tamil language films. Regarded as one of the finest actors of Hindi cinema, he i ...

Arbaaz Khan Arbaaz Salim Abdul Rashid Khan (born 4 August 1967) is an Indian actor and film producer who primarily works in Hindi cinema, in addition to Telugu and Malayalam cinema. Since making his debut in 1996, he has acted in many leading and suppor ...

Jimmy Sheirgill Jimmy Sheirgill (born Jasjit Singh Gill; 3 December 1970), also credited as Jimmy Shergill, is an Indian actor and film producer who works in Hindi and Punjabi films. Sheirgill began his film career with the 1996 thriller '' Maachis''. His br ...

Amrita Singh Amrita Singh (born 9 February 1958) is an Indian actress. Through her films such as '' Betaab'' and '' Mard'', she gained popularity and became a well-known and popular actress in the 1980s. She took a break from acting in the early 1990s for ...

Minissha Lamba Minissha Lamba (born 18 January 1985) is an Indian actress and poker player who appeared in Hindi films. She made her debut with ''Yahaan'' (2005). Her other notable films include ''Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd.'' (2007), ''Bachna Ae Haseeno'' (200 ...

Sudhanshu Pandey Sudhanshu Pandey is an Indian singer, film and television actor best known for portraying Vanraj Shah in '' Anupamaa'' and '' Anupama: Namaste America''. Career Sudhanshu Pandey was first reported in the media for being a part of India’s firs ...

, Anupam Kher,

Aftab Shivdasani Aftab Shivdasani (born 25 June 1978) is an Indian actor, producer and model known for his works in Bollywood and also working for Tamil and Kannada film industry. Shivdasani was selected as the Farex baby at the age of 14 months and eventually ...

Diya Mirza Dia Mirza Rekhi (born Dia Handrich; 9 December 1981) is an Indian model, actress, producer, and social worker who predominantly works in Hindi films. Mirza won the title of Miss Asia Pacific International in 2000 after being crowned Femina Miss ...

Mandira Bedi Mandira Bedi (born 15 April 1972) is an Indian actress, fashion designer, and television presenter. She gained recognition by playing the titular role in the 1994 television show, '' Shanti'', which was telecast on India's national channel, Door ...

, Mahesh Manjrekar,

Neha Dhupia Neha Dhupia (born 27 August 1980) is an Indian actress and model who works predominantly in Hindi, and some Punjabi, Telugu and Malayalam films. She has won the Femina Miss India 2002 pageant and was among the top 10 finalists in Miss Universe ...

Shabana Azmi Shabana Azmi (born 18 September 1950) is an Indian actress of Hindi film, television and theatre. One of India's most acclaimed actresses, Azmi is known for her portrayals of distinctive, often unconventional female characters across several ge ...

Masumeh Makhija Masumeh Makhija (born 10 October 1994, sometimes credited as Masumi Makhija) is a Canadian actress and model. She was born in Canada. She started her career as a child artist appearing in commercials and TV shows like ''Thoda Hai Thoda ki Zaroor ...

, Rohit Roy,

Anita Hassanandani Natasha Hassanandani (born 14 April 1981), professionally known as Anita Hassanandani or Anita Hassanandani Reddy, is an Indian actress primarily working in Hindi serials as well as Telugu, Kannada and Tamil films. Early life Hassanandani wa ...

Anuradha Patel Anuradha Patel (born 30 August 1961) is an Indian actress of the famous Ganguly family. Early life Anuradha was born in Mumbai. Her maternal grandfather is the Hindi veteran actor Ashok Kumar and her grand-uncle is Kishore Kumar. Personal li ...

Dino Morea Dino Morea (born 9 December 1975) is an Indian actor who appears in Hindi films. Early life Dino Morea was born in Bangalore to an Italian father and an Indian mother. His mother hails from Kalamassery in Kochi. He is the second of three broth ...

Tarina Patel Tarina Patel is a South African actress, film producer and model, born in Cape Town and raised in Durban. She appeared in Akshay Kumar's, Horror-comedy - Bhool Bhulaiyaa. Patel has appeared on numerous magazine covers including ''Elle'', ''Dos ...

Neha Oberoi Neha Oberoi is an Indian actress who has acted in Tollywood and Bollywood films. Personal life Oberoi is the daughter of film producer Dharam Oberoi and niece of director Sanjay Gupta. She married Indian diamond merchant Vishal Shah on 14 Dec ...

Parmeet Sethi Parmeet Sethi is an Indian actor, director, producer and writer. He is best known for portraying Kuljeet Singh in his debut in Aditya Chopra's directorial debut ''Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge'' (1995). Sethi has also acted in films such as '' D ...

and

Anup Soni Anup Soni (born 30 January 1975) is an Indian actor and anchor. He is an alumnus of the National School of Drama. Soni began his career with roles in television serials such as '' Sea Hawks'' and '' Saaya''. He then took a break from television ...

. The film was released theatrically on 7 December 2007.

Plot

The plot is divided into ten short stories.

Matrimony

Crew *Cast:

, &

*Directed by

(story inspired by

Roald Dahl Roald Dahl (13 September 1916 – 23 November 1990) was a British novelist, short-story writer, poet, screenwriter, and wartime fighter ace of Norwegian descent. His books have sold more than 250 million copies worldwide. Dahl has be ...

's short story " Mrs. Bixby and the Colonel's Coat") Synopsis The bored wife of an MNC vice president Rahul Sarin (Arbaaz), Pooja (Mandira), has an extramarital affair with Aditya Singh (Sudhanshu), an army officer she met on a chatroom. She meets him every Thursday on the pretext of visiting her aunt. At home she is a doting and dutiful wife. She describes her affair as not only for sex but also for genuine love and consideration. As it turns out, her lover has to report to his post and gives her a beautiful diamond necklace. She loves it but is hesitant to take it. When the officer insists, she devises a plan. She goes to a jeweller and hands over the necklace with an arrangement that she be given a coupon, which under the pretext of a lucky draw and she'd be given her necklace. The next morning, her husband goes to collect the "prize". He calls her from his office and asks her to come over to see what she has got. She goes with great enthusiasm, but to her utter dismay finds a small diamond ring. She comes out of his cabin and tries to call the jeweler. Her cell phone does not get reception, so she turns to her husband's secretary and asks her to dial the number, only to spot the necklace on the secretary. The secretary mentions that it is from her "boyfriend" revealing that her husband is also having an affair with his secretary however since she cannot confront him without revealing her own affair she is "hoisted with her own petard".

High on the Highway

Crew *Cast:

*Directed by

Synopsis Two college graduates who are in love with each other have a habit of getting high and taking a walk along the highway. On the night after their graduation when they are walking down the road a bunch of goons try to kidnap Kaamna (Masumeh) and succeed in spite of Kabir (Jimmy Sheirgill) putting up a fight. Kaamna gets helped by the cops but Kabir feeling responsible, slashes his wrists and dies. Kaamna cries by his bed.

Pooranmasi (Full Moon Night)

Crew *Cast:

*Directed by

(based on a short story by

Kartar Singh Duggal Kartar Singh Duggal (1 March 1917 – 26 January 2012) was an Indian writer who wrote in Punjabi, Urdu, Hindi, and English. His works include short stories, novels, dramas and plays. His works have been translated into Indian and foreign lan ...

) Synopsis Mala's daughter Mini has just been engaged and her father is out on business once again leaving the ladies alone. Mala has led a loveless life and on this particular day her daughter adorns her mother with a colourful dupatta (veil) and comments on how pretty she looks. Mala realises that it is the night of full moon, and her lover promised her long ago that he would be waiting outside the door every full moon night. For once she decides to open it and let her desire take over her. After spending the night with him in the fields she returns home in the morning; many villagers notice the colourful dupatta on her head and mistake her for her daughter. When the villagers come to break the marriage describing the incident, Mini learns that it was her mother who went to meet the man. She cannot recite what has happened, as it would defame her mother, but she in unable to bear the taunts of the villagers and thus she commits suicide by jumping into the well.

Strangers in the Night

Crew *Cast: Mahesh Manjrekar &

*Directed by

Synopsis Mahesh and Neha are husband and wife. They have the habit of discussing past distractions in their relationship. They do it on their every anniversary. Mahesh forces Neha to tell about her experience. She starts discussing how she once passionately kissed the guy's hand. She also describes how she was taken in a railway station's waiting room in a dark night. She tells that she would have done anything but did not do. Her husband becomes envious. Neha unravels the twist in the story. She ultimately reveals that she actually kisses his hand and hugs him to save a child. The child was being attacked by religious riots. And as the rioters cast and Neha's caste was same, that person did not attack her and by that time that child escaped. The love scenes were actually a part of their action.

Zahir

Crew *Cast:

Dia Mirza Dia Mirza Rekhi (born Dia Handrich; 9 December 1981) is an Indian model, actress, producer, and social worker who predominantly works in Hindi films. Mirza won the title of Miss Asia Pacific International in 2000 after being crowned Femina Mis ...

*Directed by

Synopsis Saahil (Manoj Bajpayee) comes to stay in an apartment of one of his friends somewhere in Versova. He comes there after he gets a rejection from his girlfriend. There he finds Sia (Diya Mirza) sharing an apartment in the same floor as him. They eventually become good friends. Saahil wants to go deep in the relationship but cannot do so because of Sia rejecting him. Saahil however still falls in love with Sia. One night when Saahil was with his friends and visiting many bars in the town to console himself he sees Sia. She is a dancer in a dance bar. After coming home, he goes to her apartment and confronts her and despite her attempts to explain the truth to him an intoxicated Saahil rapes her despite her pleas to stop him. The next day he wakes up and Sia has already left, however he finds a note from her. In this letter she had written that she has AIDS and that was the reason of her rejection of Saahil's love which was based on consideration for his health and wellbeing not his belief that she had intentionally rejected him . This story is told by Saahil where he reveals that Sia has died two years before him and a remorseful Saahil is just waiting for that to happen to him.

Lovedale

Crew *Cast: Anupam Kher,

* Directed by Jasmeet Dhodi Synopsis Anya (Neha) meets a lady on the train on her way home, where she was getting engaged. The lady gives her an earring and vanishes at

Lovedale railway station Lovedale railway station is a railway station serving Lovedale, a town located south of Udhagamandalam (Ooty), in the Nilgiris district of Tamil Nadu. A notable tourist attraction, it is one of the stations of the Nilgiri Mountain Railway, ...

. Anya, wanting to return the earring alights and follows the road to a house where Aman (Aftab) is painting. They become acquainted. Aman attends Anya's engagement and feels hurt. Anya is also unhappy and her father questions her doubt. Anya tells him about Aman and her father tells her his flashback about how he met a lady on the train to whom he had given one earring before the train left the station. Anya and her father compare the earrings and decide that her meeting Aman was no coincidence and she breaks the engagement to join Aman. However, the story unfolds with a vicious climax. Aman notices the earrings that Neha was wearing and, on questioning, he is informed that it was the earring that was given to her by the lady in the train. Aman shows her a picture of the lady: his mother who died 10 years ago.

Sex on the Beach

Crew *Cast:

*Directed by

Synopsis Inspired by Japanese

manga Manga ( Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is ...

Death Note ''Death Note'' (stylized in all caps) is a Japanese manga series written by Tsugumi Ohba and illustrated by Takeshi Obata. It was serialized in Shueisha's ''shōnen'' manga magazine ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' from December 2003 to M ...

'' by

Tsugumi Ohba is the pen name of a Japanese manga writer, best known for authoring the ''Death Note'' manga series with illustrator Takeshi Obata from 2003 to 2006, which has 30 million collected volumes in circulation. The duo's second series, '' Bakuman. ...

Dino finds a book on the beach and picks it up. The title of the book is 'Death'. He writes his name and date of birth as instructed and starts to read the book. A

seductress Seduction has multiple meanings. Platonically, it can mean "to persuade to disobedience or disloyalty", or "to lead astray, usually by persuasion or false promises". Strategies of seduction include conversation and sexual scripts, paralingual ...

steps out of a

jet ski Jet Ski is the brand name of a personal watercraft (PWC) manufactured by Kawasaki, a Japanese company. The term is often used generically to refer to any type of personal watercraft used mainly for recreation, and it is also used as a verb to ...

and sits down next to him. Wearing a golden

bikini A bikini is a two-piece swimsuit primarily worn by women that features two triangles of fabric on top that cover the breasts, and two triangles of fabric on the bottom: the front covering the pelvis but exposing the navel, and the back coverin ...

she invites him for dinner at 7 pm. Dino is on time and goes over well prepared with

wine Wine is an alcoholic drink typically made from Fermentation in winemaking, fermented grapes. Yeast in winemaking, Yeast consumes the sugar in the grapes and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Different ...

and

condom A condom is a sheath-shaped Barrier contraception, barrier device used during sexual intercourse to reduce the probability of pregnancy or a Sexually transmitted disease, sexually transmitted infection (STI). There are both male and female con ...

s. When he is about to open her dress she tells that she will be back within two minutes with more provocative clothing and surprises which he would love taking off. But Dino falls into a nap and wakes up with a sound. He sees her dead in the

bathroom A bathroom or washroom is a room, typically in a home or other residential building, that contains either a bathtub or a shower (or both). The inclusion of a wash basin is common. In some parts of the world e.g. India, a toilet is typically ...

. When he leans down to examine her closely she opens her eyes and he understands that she was actually a soul whose wishes had been left unfulfilled and chases him to the beach. She starts running after Dino which seems that she is a

ghost A ghost is the soul or spirit of a dead person or animal that is believed to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to re ...

. The process goes the whole night and in the morning Dino is found dead in the beach. All are surrounded him, the girl comes and saves Dino and asks him to come along with her. Dino goes with her leaving his earthly body behind.

Rice Plate

Crew *Cast:

*Directed by Rohit Roy Synopsis Shabana plays a staunch Hindu woman, on her way to visit her grandchildren by train. In a hurry she forgets her wallet in her house and heads to the station. Deliberately she sits only in a taxi with Hindu deity's photos (She dislikes Muslims). But then, she realizes that the driver (

) is a Muslim. She misses her train and her next train is in two hours. She goes to a canteen and orders the cheapest meal, a plate of rice with the change she has and leaves her table to wash her hand. When she comes back she sees a Muslim looking man Dawoodi Bohra (

) eating it. Angry that he stole her plate, Shabana forgets that he is a Muslim and starts eating out of the very same plate. Later she realizes it, and leaves the place, ashamed at herself. At the railway station she notices that she had left her luggage and handbag in the canteen and goes back. There she finds her belongings near a table and a rice plate on it. Then she realizes that the Muslim man never stole her rice plate, he was, in fact, eating out of his own one, and yet he did not yell at her when she snatched it from him and spoke rudely to him. Later in the station, she offers place to a Muslim family, which shows that she had changed her attitude.

Gubbare (Balloons)

Crew *Cast:

, Rohit Roy &

*Directed by

Synopsis Simran and her husband are newlyweds on a bus who start a small quarrel. Simran moves away from to sit adjacent to Nana who is carrying 11 smiley balloons with him. On questioning he tells her how he has to present his wife with the balloons every time he has angered her and how she bakes a cake if she angers him. He explains that life is too short to spend fighting. When getting down at the stop he forgets to take with him the sorry card that he had written for his wife. Simran follows him to give it to him and she notices him speaking to his wife's grave; it is revealed that his wife is dead. She realizes that he loved his wife, and still does, yet she will now never be with him. She returns to the bus and sits beside her husband, and they do not quarrel. The essence of the story is that life is too short to be wasted away on silly fights.

Rise & Fall

Crew *Cast:

Sunil Shetty Suniel Shetty (born Sunil V. Shetty; 11 August 1961) is an Indian actor, film producer, television personality and entrepreneur who is predominantly active in Hindi films he has also worked in Tamil language, tamil, Telugu language, Telugu, Mal ...

*Directed by

Synopsis *Inspired by Ching Po-Wong's '' Blood Brothers'' The story begins with Nawab Affi (Sunil Shetty) telling Baba Hyderabadi (Sanjay Dutt) that someone is going to kill him. Baba says that if there could be anybody who could kill him, it would be Affi. The story cuts to a flashback. It shows two young kids. One of them gets paid to kill a person. They both kill the person. The kids are Baba and Affi. As kids they rise and as adults they fall because of two children shooting them as in the flashback they are now the dons.

Music

The film's soundtrack was released on 6 September 2007. Joginder Tuteja from ''bollywoodhungama.com'' gave the music 4 out of 5 stars.

Reception

Critical response

The movie ended up with mostly negative reviews with some average reviews. Elvis Dsilva of rediff gave the movie 2.5 stars saying "it failed to create an extent of watchable compendium of stories due to its large cast and stories". Sonia Chopra of Sify gave the movie 1.5 stars calling the movie balderdash. Times of India rated the movie 3.5 out of 5.

References

External links

* * * Review at American Online (by Kritika Saxena) {{Meghna Gulzar filmography 2007 films Indian anthology films Indian drama films 2000s Hindi-language films Films scored by Bappi Lahiri Films scored by Anand Raj Anand 2007 drama films Hindi-language drama films