Stree 2 - Shreiky Streequel

Stree 2 - Sarkate ka Aatank

Hindi - Horror/Comedy
147 mins
In Cinemas / Prime Video soon

Maddock is having an amazing year . Full credit to them for backing very diverse projects. Stree 2 is now the highest box office grossing Hindi movie ever. I am genuinely happy that a film without any big names (in all honesty) or a big production hous like a YRF/Dharma behind it. 

A little reality check though. On the Box office battles over the last couple of years, it is quite true that none of the movies like Jawaan, Pathaan, Salaar  met with universal appeal and unanimous critic and public likeability. This just tells us that people will flock to watch movies in theatres (with the right buzz, attention, marketing and word of mouth). Imagine a unanimously loved movie like a Munnabhai or a 3 Idiots coming through now and the box office gold is clearly immeasurable!

Stree (2018) had a lot to like. For the time, It was a very cool mostly fun and inventive take on an Urban legend ("Naale Baa"). The cast was nice and fresh, the songs were peppy and it was the right mix of horror and comedy.  Importantly, it stayed away from the Priyadarshan brand of comedy (all actors scream and crowd the scene tropes) and was well edited too.

Stree 2 - picks up from where we left the last movie. Bicky (Rajkummar Rao) and his friends have saved Chanderi from Stree, who is immortalised as their guardian angel. Time passes by, strangely unnoticed,  young women seem to be leaving the village for greener pastures. It is discovered much later that they are selectively being abducted by a headless ghoul (Sarkata!). 

The town hopes that their hero Bicky  and his  friends Rudra (Pankaj Tripathi), Bittu (Aparshakti Khurana) and Janaa (Abhishek Banerjee)  can save Chanderi once again. Along with the fleeting "woman with no name "( Shraddha Kapoor) they discover that Sarkata is unstoppable. How they figure out the Damocles' sword is what you have to endure , especially the last third of the movie. The film while starting off quite well (barring the loud humor) could have been much better with crisper editing and run time.

I admire the ambition of putting together the "Stree verse". The coming together of other characters and potential future  (though you observe the hair/makeup glitches) is admirable and worth investing in. The underlying theme of feminism is explored much like consent was in Munjya. Hopefully the team can refine the writing, temper down the slapstick ( good lines can also be funny!) and definitely edit better.

Rajkummar Rao is good (very good in some scenes). However, he has now done Ludo, Guns and Gulaabs, Roohi,  too much of the fast talking town yuppie. Shraddha Kapoor is monotone , expressions and dialogue alike! Pankaj Tripathi HAS to do different roles, he is too good an actor to be doing the same Shuddh Hindi comic. Aparshakti Khurana was ridiculously loud and will make you reach for ear plugs. Abhishek Banerjee is literally the vital link; At least his scenes do induce some genuine gags. I did like one of the cameos as well.

Keeping the franchise going means the team will have to stay, no doubt. I just hope they claim this win, but stay grounded and go back to the Stree days - Focussed, good and smart writing, without going overboard, keep the actors in check and give them funny lines, not funny faces!

As i was getting home after Stree 2, i had dejavu of Kantaraa a few years back.  (Kantaraa - The movie had a unique and outstanding first 10 and last 10, but the middle was a regular done to death rural machismo subject). I was delighted for Kantaraa's success because it brought deserving recognition for Rishab Shetty, a versatile actor, writer and film maker while also introducing the divine Bhootakola to the world. 

Much as i watched Kantara in theatres at the time because of FOMO - I watched Stree 2 to  do my bit for National Cinema Day (99 bucks!).  This tells me something to the first paragraph, FOMO is driving everything, including consumer spend, many times at lower quality, something to soul search!