Bollywood’s new-found love of small-town India as a back-drop to tell progressive stories (read women power) continues in this latest edition, set this time in the village of Chanderi in MP. While both Badrinath ki Dulhaniya (see review http://books-booze-boxoffice.blogspot.com/2017/11/badrinath-ki-dulhaniya-short-film-review.html) and Bareilly ki Barfi used the predictable-though-enjoyable genre of a love story; #Stree, uses a totally unexpected genre of horror-comedy. And for that it is a truly unique and bold attempt.
#Stree is bold because horror movies can go horribly wrong in Indian cinema, either being completely un-scary and pointless (like Ek Thi Dayan 2013, see review http://books-booze-boxoffice.blogspot.com/2013/04/ek-thi-daayan.html or 1920 Evil returns 2012) or being scary but cliche, fuelling the usual superstitions (like Raaz 2002 or Vaastu Shasta, 2004). Very few real good horror movies have really struck the right chord (may be Bhoot 2003, or Raat 1992), and that’s why even attempting a horror movie and that too with a message, is worthy of applause.
#Stree is unique because comedy movies can go horribly wrong too, mostly being completely slapstick and jarring (Golmaal series, Housefull, Welcome, Judwaa 2, we can go on!). Very few comedy movies really hit the mark (to name a few in recent times, maybe Delhi Belly 2011, see review http://books-booze-boxoffice.blogspot.com/2011/08/delhi-belly-2011.html, Hera Pheri 2000, No Entry 2005, Andaz Apna Apna 1994, Khosla ka Ghosla 2006, etc).
Stree is the story of men in a village, who are in danger of disappearing for 4 nights every year during a local festival, when the ghost of a dead woman (called ’Stree’) comes looking. Any men who are out at night or inside the home without a prescribed inscription on the wall are in danger of being abducted and never to be seen again. The only thing left behind is their clothes! The story then revolves around Vicky (Rajkumar Rao) and his friends (Bittu, Aparshakti Khurana and Jaana, Abhishek Bannerjee) and their tryst with Stree and how they go about discovering, getting scared of and eventually rescuing the town from this wicked witch, with some help from out of towner Shraddha Kapoor and town gyaani Rudra (Pankaj Tripathi).
Rajkumar Rao, as always, gives a predictably great performance, who has by now perfected the character of a small-town boy who straddles the duality of a conservative upbringing with a fast-modernising India. Khurana and Tripathi complete the predictable small town star-cast playing their roles really well too. Shraddha Kapoor chugs along too.
The story or the plot, otherwise, is nothing to write home about, but the reason why Stree really wins is because of its dialogues during the different moments in the film. That is what weaves in the comedy in an otherwise horror story. It is the dialogues that keep us hooked from one scene to the next, waiting to hear what the characters are going to say next in this situation. It is the dialogues that make us laugh, while also not letting us forget the metaphor of a world where the power equation between ‘purush’ and ‘stree’ could easily have been the other way round. It is the dialogues that make us wonder, does it really take a supernatural intervention to restore the balance between men and women?
Stree is yet another movie that reminds us that Bollywood is really coming of age. And it’s great to see the diversity of cinema that we are creating as mainstream. Kudos to Maddock films for continuing to bring unique movies to the audience, just because we must. Thank you for Go Goa Gone (review http://books-booze-boxoffice.blogspot.com/2013/05/go-goa-gone.html ) Being Cyrus, Cocktail, Love Aaj Kal, Finding Fanny, Badlapur, Hindi Medium and now Stree. Experiencing different story telling makes us all richer. Waiting for your next..
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