I watched a late afternoon show on Saturday. The hall was packed. The only seat vacant was next to me as my daughter could not join due to some urgent things to be taken care of. The movie STREE-2 passed the People Laugh and Engagement test with flying colours. The audience was glued to their seats, going Ghost hunting with the free-flowing cast that spoke a language they appreciated. The viewers waited even after the credit titles started rolling in, and that was not just for the song and dance- but in a way to assure themselves that STREE-3 would be made. Checking if the director left cues for the next, they were not disappointed.
When people ask and expect movies like STREE-2 to have a message or properly position each sub-segment of society, they should check their misplaced expectations. Such movies are pure entertainers, which need to fire repeated bullets of laughter and take the crowd along. And STREE-2 did that wonderfully well.
I am sure this one has hit the home run and will earn much more. It has already made money for the team. In fact, I have noted the production house Maddock Films. I was a fan of Clean Slate Films and will most likely watch their next movie.
Stree-2 is my kind of film—if such a genre exists—and going by the crowd reaction, it is a big sub-segment.
STREE-2 takes the story of STREE- KAAL AANA (2018) further. Rajkummar Rao – Vicky, the lovable small-town Ladies Tailer, must once again save Chanderi. Vicky is in love of Shradha Kapoor ( name of the character not revealed even in stree-2) and awaits her return. Bittu (Aparshakti Khurana) , Jena (Abhishek Banerjee), as Vicky’s friend and Rudra Bhaiya (Pankaj Tripathi) are with him in the frame to do the hard work. The town of Chanderi is seeing women disappear- which these friends earlier believed is a movement to the larger town due to modern thinking and dreams. However, it is a headless demon- the Sarkata who is abducting women with forward thinking. So where in Stree- males of Chanderi were under attack- here the females are under attack.
Forget logic and rationale. Stop questioning if the supernatural exists. Because if you believe it- live with it, and if you don’t, why question and crib? However, the setting is perfect- as a small town where beliefs – mythology- related stories and tantra override everything else. Yes, it is offensive in certain places and in some representations of women and places like mental asylum- but allow your reactive mind to quiet down and watch the movie. Don’t expect everything to be picture-perfect, politically and socially correct.
Yes, there are word-based puns and below-the-belt hints, but these innocuous laughter triggers work. It has inconsistencies and some loose ends. Yes, it is unevenly paced, and many subplots and backstories are left unsaid and introduced for no apparent reason—but I am not complaining. It made the whole family enjoy an outing on the big screen, and that’s what I wanted as an audience
Stree 2 (Hindi) DIRECTOR: Amar Kaushik STARCAST: Rajkummar Rao, Shraddha Kapoor, Abhishek Banerjee, Aparshakti Khurana, Pankaj Tripathi. It has 149 minutes of engagement.
It is a 4.5-star movie, knowing full well that known critics have rated it at 2.5-3.5 stars. But then I am a viewer first, where it delivers, and my reviews are derived from there. It is funny in its way. The characters have continuity that you expect and trust you would fall in love again with them.
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