Stree 2 Review: Shraddha Kapoor and Rajkummar Rao’s ghostbusters are back and how; a terrific franchise is born

'Stree 2: Sarkate Ka Aatank' released in theatres on August 14.

No Woman, No Cry. The Bob Marley song defines the newfound Stree franchise. The first film from 2018 saw small-town Chanderi being haunted by a female spirit, who has returned after centuries to wreak vengeance, by abducting men at night if they are out on the roads alone or if their houses do not have the written instruction for her: O Stree Kal Aana (O Stree, Come Tomorrow). Once upon a time, the men of this town had tormented her. With Stree 2, director Amar Kaushik can sing the Britney Spears number, Oops!...I Did it Again.

We are told that He will arrive after Stree leaves, as she did in the first film, which ended with the town erecting her statue, with a new instruction for her: O Stree Raksha Karna (O Stree, Protect Us), thereby giving the respect and reverence denied to her, symbolically, and extending the same to all women, at large. And we thought, all was well. This deeply patriarchal town's mindset had changed. Lo and behold! This time, there is a new demon in the town. He who had killed Stree, burned her and her lover alive, separated her from her infant daughter. If Stree abducted men, this Sarkata, or a grotesque headless demon, has come to abduct women — progressive, modern women, who are alone. The literary figure of the headless demon is age old, and has had many cinematic representations from Peter Graham Scott’s 1959 British comedy horror film The Headless Ghost to Tim Burton's Sleepy Hollow (1999). Defeating the Sarkata won't be a cakewalk. It will need great power, combined power. This universe of ghostbusters need to thus expand.

Stree 2 Movie Review and Stree 2 Trailer

The trailer is a red herring. I thought it would be regressive, what with the abduction of women, for it's too close to home and reality, to the protest marches on the streets of Kolkata right now following the rape and murder of a junior resident doctor. The cutting of plaits of women murdered by a serial killer is a reality that Delhi, for instance, has lived through. And there is no novelty in demonic males abducting females. Been there, seen that. Over and over again. The fear of being followed, being vulnerable and susceptible to harm's way is a constant fear women live with. While women are being rescued in the film, the rescuing is also being done by women. So, the male saviour trope is partly upended. Note: partly. Bollywood must still have a rescue-hero male figure even if he alone is powerless. But, thank god, it's Rajkummar Rao, and one hope this franchise stays that way. Besides, sequels hardly match up to the original, but Stree 2 stays entertaining without digressing far from its original cause and feminist angle, which gets diluted by a dance number to bring out the demon. By the men, for the men, an object of gratification.

Stree 2, however, is bigger than before, in the size of its demon and the team that beats it down an inferno. Stree 2 is crazier. And scarier, if you don't have the appetite for jump scares.

The makers of Stree 2 have been eerily silent on promoting the film. The fact that nearly 4 lakh advance booking tickets have flown out of the counter a day before its original release day, on I-Day assures of a good footfall this long weekend.

Stree 2: Sarkate Ka Aatank Movie Review

Few Indian movies get the brief on this genre (horror comedy) right and Amar Kaushik’s debut madcap film Stree (2018) is a rarity. Some films should not be touched. As is true of sequels, the genius of the first films can never be matched. But Stree is different. If the genius of Stree lay in its novelty, and a sharp incisiveness, the pull of Stree 2 lies in its consistency, for the most part, and thanks to its principal characters but the writing, the dialogues were a tad unintelligent. While both the films have their fair share of laughs but they should have had way more. Stree 2 makes the folly of resorting to jump scares. The eerie, atmospheric film creeps out more, adds to the fear factor. Jump scares are just funny. For a generation that grew up watching films by the Ramsay Brothers and Aahat, Zee Horror Show, Shhh… Koi Hai on TV, jump scares are child's play.

Stree 2 Cast: A solid cast of terrific actors  

Shraddha Kapoor in a still from Stree 2.

Stree was a tour de force boosted by its solid contributions from all departments, from its technical teams to its superlative actors, both principal and minor characters, led by Mr Dependable, the splendid Rajkummar Rao, who's superb when frightened or frolicking about. In Stree 2, too, he's the buttery smooth operator as the tailor-turned-unassuming hero Vicky whose house entrance has a plaque with his newfound identity: 'Chanderi ka rakshak'. And, despite the apparent chin job, Rao can hold his chin up for delivering on our demands with his acting chops. No other actor could have evinced the prem bhav emotions and that inimitable smile on hearing Bicky pleej (sic. please).

If the extraterrestrial human-ghost love angle was ingenious in the first outing, in this installment, the audiences root for it, too. This film even has a fantasy romantic song sequence with the two. The Vicky-nameless ghost love chemistry is spot on but their fighting-together action chemistry is a smash hit. This chemistry is going nowhere. Stree 3 will happen, and like the I-dream-of-Jeanie Vicky, the audiences shall wait for her to reappear, to fight a new demon.

Stree 2 provides the answers to the questions that Stree 1 left us with. From the missing pages of Chanderi Puran book that arrives in a letter to Rudra bhaiyya from an unknown source to who Shraddha Kapoor really is: is she a witch or a female ghost and what is her relation to Stree, the eponymous ghost? This Kapoor has what most current-crop Kapoor women in Bollywood don't. She can act, for starters, and hold your attention, too. In her saviour avatar, fighting to rescue women in this second film, she is almost, as if, atoning for all the sins committed against women on screen by her father Shakti Kapoor as the villain in '80s Hindi films.

Shraddha Kapoor who remained icy as the enigmatic woman who has the protagonist dancing around her little finger in the first film is superlative as a female superhero in this one. Step aside Deepika Padukone and Katrina Kaif, if India plans on remaking Marvel films, Shraddha should be cast as Wonder Woman or Black Widow. Oh, wait! This is that franchise. The Maddock Supernatural Universe (MSU) is the MCU that India has been long waiting for, where it upends the toxic tropes of the MCU and makes the characters relatable, even lovable. With Stree, Bhediya, Munjya, Maddock Films has been expanding this ghost-werewolf narrative one film at a time, whose sequels are now tumbling out. If Varun Dhawan's cameo in Stree 2 was to signal that Bhediya 2 will follow suit this year, he also drops a hint at a vampire movie in the offing. Vampires of Vijay Nagar will likely be out next year.

Abhishek Banerjee was born to play the role of Jana. High on energy and yet restrained, if this friend was made to suffer the most at the hands of Stree earlier, here, his character is more fleshed out, given powers and quirks. One particular scene, a close encounter with the demon, cracked up the audiences. In this film, he has a divyashakti.

If in the previous film, Aparshakti Khurrana's Bittu was full of beans and stole the scenes he was in, here, too, the abduction of his supposed girlfriend leads him to be a crybaby to bringing out the misogyny as he follows a herd, albeit under the powers of the bad force.

Pankaj Tripathi, as always, is in cracking form. Tareef karoon kya uski jisne inhe banaya.

Stree 2 Cameos: A surprise package? 

Akshay Kumar is yawn, in a Hera Pheri way. Tamannaah Bhatia is sultry but adds little. Her addition feels forced, as if to just add an item number song-dance in a sexy outfit which has become par for the course in Tamil and Telugu films — did the producers Maddock Films and Jio Studios ask for it? That item number sequence was unnecessary. Varun Dhawan’s Bhediya cameo was solid.

Stree 2 Movie Review: Writing needed more punchlines, less homophobia

The writing could have done with way more creative punchlines and a lot more laughter. Though whatever Pankaj Tripathi says becomes a memory etched in stone. He can make the unfunny sound funny. There is one dialogue where he uses the word Aparshakti just as Bittu (Aparshakti) looks at him, lovingly. Intentional and funny. Or four men hiding in a wooden elephant to escape a powerful demon. Bizarre yet relatable. Like a Jedi Master, he guides them on. But his charm is in tiptoeing between being the guiding light and running for cover.

The worst was the writing of the Akshay Kumar-Jana dialogues in a scene. It was written in poor taste and smacks of homophobia. A ridiculing through a stereotype, of how a society looks at gay men/gay love. While the world might think otherwise and this announces his comic entry, perhaps as a future villain in Stree 3, into the MSU, Akshay Kumar needed the film/franchise more than the film needing him, to resuscitate his dwindling career. The charm of Stree was in the absence of big stars. Big Bollywood stars don't translate into blockbusters or great films at the Box Office any more, but for the claps and hoots in dark halls, sure thing.

The film, unlike the sharp Stree 1, is entertaining albeit with less wit and the climax, in an attempt to open the gateway of the MSU and its many characters, is bit of a khichdi, like a confused man who has lost the straight way home.

Star Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars.

Stree 2: Sarkate Ka Aatank is now playing in theatres