Boy meets girl, sparks fly, eternal vows are sung, obstacles are overcome and the all-important happily-ever-after is accomplished.
Every second plot in Bollywood is a love story.
But there are few who stop to focus on purely carnal pleasures in a relationship.
In Lust Stories 2, four film-makers prioritise lust over love to tell four stories of sexual empowerment and evolution starring the likes of Kajol, Mrunal Thakur, Tilotamma Shome and Tamannaah Bhatia.
Meanwhile, Sukanya Verma looks at how one of the seven primal human emotions is usually treated in Hindi movies.
Murder
In this sultry rip-off of Hollywood's Unfaithful, an unhappily married woman's passionate affair with her ex leads to disastrous consequences. But what audiences remember best are its groovy soundtrack and the unabashed display of sexual desires in Emraan Hashmi and Mallika Sherawat's scorching chemistry.
Jism
Yeh jism pyaar karna nahi jaanta. Yeh jaanta hai sirf bhookh, jism ki bhookh.
Bipasha Basu's sexy breakout turn opposite debutant John Abraham in yet another seductively packaged musical inspired by a Hollywood thriller (Body Heat) makes its lustful intentions amply clear.
Lust Stories
A teacher's transgressions, a maid's desires, a middle-aged wife's disenchantment, a bride's libido find expression in Anurag Kashyap, Zoya Akhtar, Dibakar Banerjee and Karan Johar's diverse stories as they come together to showcase the face of lust in this Netflix anthology.
Goliyon Ka Raas-Leela: Ram Leela
Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone's racy, raunchy camaraderie sees the age-old love story of Romeo and Juliet in a lustful light.
Aitraaz
Priyanka Chopra experiences the legal side-effects of lust when she sexually imposes herself on her former boyfriend, played by Akshay Kumar, in this desi Disclosure.
Manmarziyaan
Vicky Kaushal and Taapsee Pannu's fyaar mottos make its lust before love fundas rather obvious in Anurag Kashyap's take on Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam territory.
Gehraiyaan
Lines are blurred and boundaries are crossed as Deepika Padukone and Siddhant Chaturvedi give into their wildest impulses ensuing in sublime seduction and turbulent developments of Shakun Batra's volatile adult drama.
Aiyyaa
Why should men do all the fantasising? Rani Mukerji empowers the female gaze in the lustful excesses of her brazen cravings for the super sculpted Prithviraj.
Hunterrr
The path from lust to love finds a unique and genuine expression in Gulshan Devaiah's journey from sex addict to happily married.
Daud
Hunky Sanjay Dutt and svelte Urmila Matondkar's quirky, on-the-run equation can barely conceal their suppressed lust for one other, an attribute Daud is quick to document in the imaginatively choreographed song-and-dance sequences.
Pati Patni Aur Woh
As per the Pati Patni Aur Woh franchise, the roving eye syndrome stems from a married man's deep-rooted lust, greedy for no-strings fun no matter how wonderful the better half. In its brand new remake, Kartik Aaryan's dull office guy lusts after Ananya Pandey's slick city girl much to his plucky wife Bhumi Pednekar's disappointment.
No Entry
Suspicious wife, straying husband, pretty young thing popping out of nowhere to sizzle things up trope once again forms the core of Anees Bazmee's birdbrained comedy.
The Dirty Picture
Few have portrayed lust like a full-bodied emotion as wholeheartedly as Vidya Balan's dazzling effort in The Dirty Picture.
Chaahat
Remember when Shah Rukh Khan was on the receiving end of Ramya's toxic lust in Mahesh Bhatt's gory, over-the-top Chaahat?
Maya Memsaab
King Khan appeared much more in control as the young fling fanning a married woman's perennially dissatisfied desires in Ketan Mehta's Madame Bovary adaptation.
Khiladiyon Ka Khiladi
Cougar couples are a rare sight in Bollywood. In a welcome change, Akshay Kumar and Rekha get up close and personal in their bid to prove 'In the night no control.'
Mirch Masala
Ranjeet, Prem Chopra, Amrish Puri, Gulshan Grover, Bollywood has doled out lust in its most lecherous, repelling avatars but few antagonists can match the realistic menace of Naseeruddin Shah's relentless tyrant consumed by the improper emotion towards Smita Patil's village woman in Mirch Masala.
Shaukeen
Old men can feel lust too albeit the humorous, harmless kind under Basu Chaterjee's benign vision and Ashok Kumar, Utpal Dutt and A K Hangal's comic prowess.
Hawas
Bindu's one-of-its-kind, unusual-for-its-time outing as a nymphomaniac preying on gullible young men enjoys a small, significant corner in Bollywood history.
Satyam Shivam Sundaram
Raj Kapoor's propensity for Peeping Toms is evident in his movies from Sangam and Mera Naam Joker to Ram Teri Ganga Maili and Satyam Shivam Sundaram.
The potent lust in Shashi Kapoor's eyes as he watches Zeenat Aman under a waterfall is hard to miss.
