‘Stree 2’ Movie Review - Rajkummar Rao, Shraddha Kapoor in an Uneven Horror Comedy

Amar Kaushik's Stree 2 can be aptly summed up through a visual of kids pranking each other. At first, a little girl scares some boys wearing Stree's costume. Later, those boys use a head to scare that little girl. That head represents the sequel's villain, Sarkata. Those kids represent the film's main characters, who handle dangerous situations by mostly screaming and running like little children. Kaushik is a very unsubtle director. His images spell out their meanings in bold letters. A character mentions that Chanderi is filled with two types of women: Modern and not very modern. But before the movie reaches this line, it provides an opening scene that gives us precisely the same information - some women are seen in sarees, while others wear jeans or practice Taekwondo. Stree 2's soundscape is riddled with cues that tell us how to respond to the ongoing events. How does Kaushik cut from a serious mood to a more lighthearted one? By suddenly stopping a rousing or sad tune playing in the background. With someone else, this approach could have become a drawback. Kaushik, however, plays these familiar beats with a smile on his face. He infuses vigor into his silly humor. I was surprised by the comic strength he brought to a scene involving an elephant. A scene like this shouldn't have worked as well as it does here. What is it about the Stree movies that bring out the best in this director? Kaushik has also made Bala and Bhediya, but those films aren't even half as good as this one. What's different here?

Perhaps the answer lies in the presence of actors like Rajkummar Rao, Pankaj Tripathi, Abhishek Banerjee, and Aparshakti Khurana. Notice how Rao jumps excitedly when Shraddha Kapoor's character actually comes in front of him. Tripathi is a natural comedian. He merely shifts his tongue from Hindi to English, and we burst into laughter. Banerjee moves his entire body so feverishly that the movie's energy shoots up. The trio builds and sustains a charged atmosphere, so Khurana doesn't have to do much. The lullaby that he sings for his girlfriend, a slightly tweaked version of The Big Bang Theory's "Soft Kitty, Warm Kitty," isn't very funny, but we are so attuned to the movie's nutty tone that we can't help but react with chuckles. The Maddock Supernatural Universe combines horror comedy with messages/moral lessons. Bhediya talked about preserving nature. Munjya told us that boys should always ask for girls' consent. The Stree movies tackle the patriarchal system. The men were kidnapped in the 2018 film. The women face the same trouble in the sequel. Stree is replaced with a beheaded creature that throws power into the hands of the men. Sarkata hates progressive women. He builds his army by converting Chanderi's men. The husbands start locking their wives into their homes, and girls line up outside Vicky's shop for alteration. What Stree 2 screams is that patriarchy is bad. The alternate title of Stree 2: Sarkate Ka Aatank could be Stree 2: You Go Girl.

It's ironic when a women's empowerment film sexualizes females with an item number. Stree 2 gets rid of this problem through a convincing explanation, yet it still isn't able to entirely remove all the contradictions. Niren Bhatt's screenplay offers Kapoor much screen time but little substance. She gets a crowd-pleasing hero introduction-like scene that loses its charm quickly when you realize that she is doing nothing but rotating her braid. The issue is further exacerbated by the fact that Kapoor is not a very good actor - she has a weak presence. The scene, with its rousing music, tells you to be in awe of her character, but you find nothing "heroic" in her facial expressions. Kapoor, in fact, threatens to turn Stree 2 into a dour affair. Without Rao, Tripathi, and Banerjee, she would have surely succeeded. In a movie that celebrates women, the female characters end up looking generic, dull, and unmemorable. Chitti (Anya Singh) is a shallow, unfaithful lover. Kapoor's character is little more than an uninteresting cipher. Tamannaah Bhatia is present so that Aaj Ki Raat song can happen, and Stree, even with a tragic past, looks like a scary, sentimental embellishment.

During the climax, Stree and Sarkata have a screaming battle. The mind-numbingly boring final scenes come across as punishment. If Sarkata hurts women for having ambitions, Stree 2's climax punishes us for having some fun. It's dismaying to realize that the film was leading us towards this noise. During one of the moments, I could almost hear the words, "Avengers Assemble!" There are two surprises in this sequel, but only one of them leaves you entertained. The filmmakers are so high on the cameo magic that they don't bother to fill some holes for the audience. We are told that only someone who is a half-man, half-woman can enter Sarkata's lair, which is why Vicky merges with Kapoor's character. So, how does THAT animal enter the villain's den? The girls who disappear from Chanderi are assumed to have gone to the cities, which seems ridiculous. Don't any of them have a guardian or a parent? A girl is kidnapped at the beginning of the film. Why didn't anyone file a complaint? It's shocking that the residents of Chanderi take this much time to realize that Chanderi girls are not safe.

Nevertheless, nothing beats the tedium that sets in during the climax. Because of these final portions, we come out of Stree 2 looking dejected. It makes sense that the climactic battle unfolds in what looks like hell. These scenes plunge movies further into uninspiring depths. If this is the formula the filmmakers find attractive nowadays, brace yourself for more anemic cameo/team-up events.

Final Score- [5/10]
Reviewed by - Vikas Yadav
Follow @vikasonorous on Twitter
Publisher at Midgard Times