Stree (A Woman – in English) is a comedy horror film directed by Amar Kaushik and produced by Dinesh Vijan and Raj and D.K. The film is based on the Indian urban legend about a witch who knocks on people’s doors at night.
The film sets in the strange and small town of Chanderi, which is haunted by a ghostly woman named ‘Stree’, who abducts men during the nights of the festive period. The film opens with a tagline saying, “The film is based on the ridiculous phenomenon”, and yes, as the topic of the film is completely fresh and unusual, it successfully delivers the same. The film revolves around Vicky (Rajkummar Rao), a skilled tailor in a town, who falls for the mysterious girl (Shraddha Kapoor), who also only appears during festival season. As the festival starts, Vicky’s close friends start disappearing, which makes him set out and confront the ‘Stree’ and bring his abducted friends back, with the help of librarian Rudra bhaiyya (Pankaj Tripathi), who has analyzed the myth of evil spirit ‘Stree’.
As the film’s trailer had suggested the film is the really good combination of its comedy and horror aspect. This type of combination was previously seen in Go Goa Gone (2013), a brilliant horror comedy film, which was directed by Raj and D.K, and Amar Kaushik was on the assistant director’s team, so the same flavor of comedy can be seen in Stree. The film is a mixture of satire, dark comedy, and ample but impacting horror. Along with all these elements the film also talks about a common woman’s condition in India and gives a clear message that all women should be empowered and respected and should be considered as a powerful human being as men.
There are some jump scares in the film, which with the screeching background score and subtle visual effects works really well. The performances are top notch, every single character in the film gives the outstanding performance. Rajkumar Rao and Pankaj Tripathi are among the proven talent pool of the industry and they actually steal every scene they are in. It’s not a perfect film, the film feels a bit longer at some places, and there are some flaws and loose ends, but those can be expected in its scheduled sequel.
Verdict : A fun ride for comedy lovers with some flavor of horror.
Rating : 3.8/5
Check trailer here : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzeaGcLLl_A
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