Stree 2 Movie Review — Sucharita Tyagi
Horror-comedy genre is one of the more trickier ones, koi bhi fantasy story to be honest. Regardless of the treatment — comedy like Stree, tragedy like Bulbull, scienc-y like Cargo, all the Planet Of The Apes movies, if the material strays TOO far from real, relatable life, it stands the risk of becoming a nothing burger like Adipurush, Kalki, mostly interested in the spectacle of it all.
Amar Kaushik bataur filmmaker isey kareeb se, dil se samajhte hain. His EXCELLENT Bhediya, despite the swole top-less Varun Dhawan and a hilarious Deepak Dobriyal, was at the heart of it a story of men and capitalism messing with nature, with nature eventually winning, by literally taking over humanity. His breakout Stree was a feminist tale about a woman coming back for revenge.
Uss hi social issue ko phir se aage badhaate huye, Stree 2 mein iss baar patriarchy ki literal embodiment ban ke aata hai “sir-kata”, ek aisa daanav jiska sir jitna baar kaato, it rears its ugly head again. Fighting sir-kata once again, are 4 simple dudes, unaware of what they’re doing, par bass aankh band kar ke winging it.
Writer Niren Bhatt aur Amar lekin aapko sir ke oopar thapki nahi maarna chahte ki AAO PATRIARCHY KO NASHT KAREIN because these smart, clever men realise that one needs a spoonful of sugar to make the medicine go down. The first half of the movie is that sugar in overdose.
Ek toh let me pause here and say, the horror here is actually very scary, even for a 36-year-old adult like me, mereko aankhein band karke baithna pada, bachein joh theatre mein aaye they, highly inappropriate. The themes are dark, humor suggestive and imagery graphic. Harr minute mein ek jump scare, infact the first half is overloaded with Sir Kata shrieking loud until your ears bleed, while the story refuses to proceed. By the time the interval rolled around, not gonna lie, I was scared if this to was going to go down the “money grab sequel” route. Pankaj Tripathi par filmaaye clunky opening gaane “Pooja Ke Dino Mein Aati Thi” se lekar, mid-point ke all is lost moment tak, the film struggled to find balance and reason. A scene about a letter ie chithi and a girl named Chitti, while one saying chithi and the other saying Chitti, dawdled for so long, it made me very concerned about the quality of humor the film was promising.
However, Amar Kaushik knows how to bring it home. Post interval, when Chanderi ke avengers assemble, Jana makes a comeback, a moment that had the audience clapping btw, and defense is mounted against the absurdly powerful Sir Kata, the screenplay begins to gallop. Tamanna Bhatia makes an appearance flirting with Rudra bhaiyya as Jana, Vicky and Bittu watch rubbing their eyes, various other gags begin to fall in place, and commentary in the dialogue and sub-plots suddenly come into sharper focus. How easy it is for one powerful figure to brainwash and radicalize a group of people into subservience, almost like a hypnosis. How the patriarchy would like to women who love and celebrate themselves, and turn them into wax figure devoid of indulgences like hair, make-up and bright clothes. The movie finds its rhythm, jokes land consistently, and the film begins to elaborate on its larger point — Pitra-satta ko haraane ke liye, stree aur purush ko ek hona padega, with women leading the way and able men accepting their roles as pillars of support.
Now coming to what I found most exciting, a sexy Rajkummar Rao. As I watched Vicky fly in the air with a sword in his hand inexplicably dressed like an ancient warrior, I realized how I hadn’t seen the actor do much action in movies. By the time the end credits roll and Raj is dancing with Shraddha Kapoor and Varun Dhawan in Khoobsurat I was reminded I haven’t seen the actor do much sexy-come-hither stuff either. Or if I have, it hasn’t registered under the heavy Newton, City Lights, Srikanth style movies, and like I want to see him do both? He’s swole, he looks great, kyun sirf Varun Dhawan hai shirtless phir?
Jokes aside, Raj is always a delight to watch and carries the scenes even when Shraddha Kapoor gives him the bare minimum. Abhishek Banerjee is another great talent in Hindi cinema and as always is reliable, and successful in bringing the funny. One look at Jana’s face and you know you're in for a good time. Amar Kaushik gives Abhishek more heavy lifting to do compared to Aparshakti Khurana and the actor does not disappoint.
Stree 2 is a reminder of why horror comedies work. Niren Bhatt and Amar Kaushik want to tell their audience ki our feminism stands on the shoulders of our mothers, who may or may not have been activists but had they not endured what they did and persevered, we would have the means to protest the way we do now, their film is LITERALLY titled ‘Woman’. With this impactful messaging, they also ensure the audience is very much in their seats for a Rajkummar Rao- Varun Dhawan dance-off, what more can I want?
So, on a scale of 1 to 10, Stree 2 is…..2 post credits songs hain film mein! Do! Stick around for those kyunki Hollywood mein mid credit scene karke woh log khush ho jaate hai, yahaan poore mid-creit gaane hain because humein yeh aata hai karna!
