Netflix Releases Lust Stories 3 Trailer, Confirms September 18 Premiere

Netflix released the trailer for Lust Stories 3 on Wednesday, confirming the anthology will premiere on September 18, 2026. The third installment of the Emmy-nominated franchise brings together four directors and an ensemble cast for four new stories about love, desire and complicated relationships.

The four segments are directed by Vikramaditya Motwane, Kiran Rao, Shakun Batra and Vishal Bhardwaj. The cast includes Radhika Apte, Konkona Sen Sharma, Aditi Rao Hydari, Radhika Madan, Sana Thampi, Vijay Varma, Abhishek Banerjee, Siddharth, Ali Fazal and Gurfateh Pirzada.

Four Stories, Four Directors

The two-minute-nineteen-second trailer moves between the four stories, each carrying its own tone and visual style. One segment features Aditi Rao Hydari as a professor in Hyderabad who writes stories about a fictional lover. In another, Radhika Madan and Ali Fazal play a married couple dealing with frustration and mismatched expectations.

Konkona Sen Sharma and Radhika Apte appear as middle-class professionals in a segment that touches on the concept of swinging couples. Gurfateh Pirzada and Sana Thampi play Karan and Lisa in Kiran Rao’s story, which explores a cross-cultural attraction.

Vishal Bhardwaj’s segment is set in 1987 and stars Aditi Rao Hydari, Siddharth and Gajraj Rao. The story explores sex education through a period lens and includes references to homeopathic medicines such as Nux Vomica and Belladonna.

Trailer Highlights

One of the most discussed moments in the trailer is Aditi Rao Hydari’s dialogue about female desire. Her character says, ‘You can’t treat women like light bulbs which you can just switch on and off.’ She compares women to candles, saying they ‘don’t simply burn, we melt.’

Another segment features Radhika Madan and Ali Fazal in a tense exchange about marriage. When Radhika tells Ali that he needs to invest if he wants returns, he responds that he has already given up his life and got married. She then asks whether he did her a favour by marrying her.

Konkona Sen Sharma and Radhika Apte share a comic exchange about fireworks and a reference to Kandivali, a Mumbai suburb, which drew attention on social media. In another scene, Konkona asks Abhishek Banerjee whether he is only good at wrapping or can unwrap too.

The trailer also introduces a song titled ‘Aaye Miyan Ghat Pat,’ which some reviewers described as a standout musical moment.

Directors on Their Segments

Vikramaditya Motwane said, ‘What drew me to Lust Stories 3 was the chance to explore what happens when the comfort of everyday life begins to rub up against the desire for something unexpected, and this story allowed me to explore that space with warmth, humour and a little bit of unpredictability.’

Kiran Rao said, ‘What interested me about this story was how the first sparks of an attraction can quickly become something far more complicated. Desire makes us curious, and sometimes willing to take chances we normally wouldn’t. I was interested in what happens when those choices begin to have unexpected consequences.’

Shakun Batra said, ‘For me, the most interesting relationships are the ones where people don’t quite know what they’re feeling, or how to make sense of it. Affection, insecurity, allure and frustration can all exist at the same time, often in ways that surprise us. I wanted to explore that emotional ambiguity with honesty, without judging the characters or trying to give them easy answers.’

Vishal Bhardwaj said, ‘What fascinates me about desire is how deeply it is connected to imagination – to the stories we tell ourselves, and sometimes the stories we are afraid to tell out loud. I was drawn to the idea of exploring that space through a character finding her own voice and discovering what happens when that voice reaches beyond her.’

Social Media Reaction

Online reactions to the trailer were divided. Some viewers praised the cast and the anthology’s return, while others found the trailer confusing or underwhelming.

One Instagram user commented, ‘I think this is better season.’ Another wrote, ‘Kuch samjha nahi trailer..started well but bad me it became random.’ A third comment read, ‘Itna bland trailer ..chupane ke chakkar me gobar cut Kiya hai.’

The Instagram post from Netflix India featuring the trailer can be viewed at https://www.instagram.com/p/DdDaYz0APka/.

Franchise History

The Lust Stories franchise began in 2018 with segments directed by Anurag Kashyap, Zoya Akhtar, Dibakar Banerjee and Karan Johar. The first film starred Radhika Apte, Bhumi Pednekar, Kiara Advani and Vicky Kaushal, among others. Lust Stories 2 arrived on Netflix in 2023 with segments from R. Balki, Konkona Sen Sharma, Amit Ravindernath Sharma and Sujoy Ghosh.

Lust Stories 3 will begin streaming on Netflix on September 18, 2026.