Maddock Films and D2R Films’ Stree (UA) is a horror comedy.
It is the story of Chanderi town in which a lady’s ghost comes in the dark of night and takes away a man or men, leaving their clothes behind. The naked men are never found then. It is believed that the spirit takes away men to have physical relations with them.
Vicky (Rajkumar Rao), an expert ladies tailor, doesn’t believe in the ghost story and, in fact, scoffs at the practice of writing, in bold red letters on the outside wall of houses in the town, instructions to the ghost, asking her to come another day. This instruction, it is believed, keeps the lady’s ghost from hunting for her prey inside such homes.
One day, during a religious festival in the town, a girl (Shraddha Kapoor) approaches Vicky and asks him to stitch her a lehnga urgently. She neither reveals her name to nor shares her cell phone number with Vicky. Vicky seems besotted by her and confides about his encounter to bosom pals Bittu (Aparshakti Khurana) and Jana (Abhishek Banerjee). Vicky meets the girl he is smitten by, several times but realises that she more often than not disappears all too suddenly.
On one night during the religious festival, the ghost picks up Jana. Rather than taking him to be dead, Vicky and Bittu seek the help of Rudra (Pankaj Tripathi), who has deep understanding of ghosts and spirits. Luckily, they are able to bring back Jana alive. However, it soon emerges that Jana is possessed by the spirit. Soon thereafter, several men get picked up by the lady ghost on a single night. The finger of suspicion points to Vicky’s nameless girlfriend. But she soon meets Vicky and tells him that she is aware of the ghost and knows of ways to get rid of the same.
Vicky, Bittu, Rudra and the nameless girl now meet the author (Vijay Raaz) of the book which speaks about the lady ghost. The writer describes the person who would free Chanderi town from the clutches of the ghost. The description fits Vicky, and he now braces up to eliminate the lady ghost. He is assisted by his girlfriend, Bittu and Rudra. The plan is for Vicky to lure the ghost by feigning love and then kill the ghost.
What happens thereafter? Does the ghost fall prey to Vicky and group’s machinations? Is Vicky able to free Chanderi of the ghost? Like Jana, do the other men taken away by the ghost, return home? Who is the ghost? Do Vicky and his girlfriend unite in matrimony?
Raj and DK’s story, with additional story by Pawan Sony, is fantastical as it defies logic and is based on a ridiculous premise. But it is written so well that it manages to capture the imagination of the viewers. The writers have penned a wonderfully entertaining story which evokes a lot of laughter in the comic scenes and sends chills down the spines of the viewers in the horror scenes. Raj and DK’s screenplay is equally brilliant. It is so fast-moving and engaging that once the viewers get sucked into it, they don’t question the lack of logic because they keep getting entertained with the comedy and the horror. After the fantastical premise, which is far-fetched, the screenplay moves quite logically and what’s more, the comedy quotient is so high that the viewers can’t stop laughing unless there is a scene of horror, in which case they get scared. There are a number of sequences which bring the house down with laughter, the best being the one in the climax in which a scared-to-death Vicky tries to feign love by looking into the ghost’s eyes. Other scenes which evoke a lot of laughter are: the one in which Vicky meets his girlfriend for the first time; when Vicky’s father explains to him about the birds and the bees; when Rudra shares his knowledge with the people of the town, whether orally or by distributing pamphlets; when Jana’s supremely grateful mother is overwhelmed with joy on Jana’s return home; when Bittu expresses fear of the ghost; when Bittu tries to camouflage his jealously; etc. The climax is befitting and both, horrifying and entertaining. The last scene leaves a smile on people’s faces.
Sumit Arora’s dialogues are extraordinary and heighten the impact of the comic scenes manifold.
Rajkumar Rao is terrific in the role of Vicky. He comes up with an outstanding performance, shedding all inhibitions and simply flowing with the character. It is difficult to imagine anybody else in the character of Vicky because Rajkumar Rao exhibits a rare kind of versatility in playing the role. Shraddha Kapoor looks beautiful and acts well as Vicky’s girlfriend. Aparshakti Khurana is first-rate as Bittu. His sense of timing is remarkable. Pankaj Tripathi delivers yet another brilliant performance, using his expressions and body language to the fullest to create comedy. Abhishek Banerjee is very good as Jana. Atul Srivastav lends remarkable support as Vicky’s father. Vijay Raaz makes a fantastic mark in the single scene he has. Mushtaq Khan lends decent support. Flora Saini leaves a mark. Nora Fatehi looks sexy and makes her presence felt in a song-dance. R.N. Shukla (as the watchman), Kusumlata Shastri (as the neighbour), Ramkrishna Dhakad (as the tailor’s assistant), Trapti Singh (as the customer in the tailor’s shop), Uday Newalkar (as Khan Saab), Manoj Chaube (as Panditji), Atmaja Pandey (as aunty) and the others provide the desired support.
Amar Kaushik’s direction is excellent. Although this is his debut directorial venture, Kaushik shows exemplary command over the medium as he keeps the audience thoroughly entertained. Making a horror comedy is not easy but he handles the subject with flourish. Sachin-Jigar’s music is good. The ‘Kamariya’ and ‘Milegi milegi’ songs are very appealing. The other songs are quite nice. Lyrics (Vayu, Jigar Saraiya and Badshah) are appropriate. Song picturisations (by Vijay Ganguly) are nice; the picturisation of ‘Kamariya’ on Nora Fatehi needs special mention for its sexiness. Ketan Sodha’s background music is pretty effective. Amalendu Chaudhary’s cinematography is of a good standard. Action scenes and stunts (by Manohar Verma and Amin Khatib) are mass-appealing. Madhusudan N.’s production designing and Sagar Mali and Akshita Garg’s art direction are very good. Hemanti Sarkar has edited the film very sharply, leaving no scope for boredom to creep in.
On the whole, Stree is entertaining and engaging. Its comedy and horror will be lapped up by the audience, making it a hit fare.