Stree 2 Review -  A Crowd Pleasing Horror-Comedy!

Ashwin Ram

Stree 2: Sarkate Ka Aatank is a sequel to the 2018 blockbuster film Stree. Stars Rajkummar Rao and Shraddha Kapoor in the lead roles. Directed by Amar Kaushik who made the first part.

Premise:

After the events of Stree, a headless monster haunts the people at the small town of Chanderi. What is the mystery behind it, how Rajkummar Rao and Shraddha Kapoor shoo the ghost away is the remaining story.

Writing/ Direction:

The livelihood in the Chanderi town is shown well by children playing around dressed up like Stree, also the happenings of the first part is cleverly conveyed through a stage play. The director’s stamp is evident in not just designing the ghost to be headless, but in also writing terrifying stretches around it. Immense creativity has gone into the making of those terrific spooky scenes, by providing ample time for staging. There is an equal share of comedy too, the timing dialogues and artists reactions to the horror make the humour portions highly enjoyable. The story continuation gets a convincing purpose through a voice-over backstory, and it is neatly written. Gets the interval bang right as well, the usage of the geography is an additional strength. The second half has issues which are covered to an extent with cameos. The initial bunch after the midpoint heavily dips with no excitement in the flow, thankfully the final act is decent. Tamannah Bhatia’s appearance is not just for an item song, there is a point to it that demands more detailing. Akshay Kumar’s scene taking place at the asylum is so cringe, thankfully there is a great lead to the next outing that involves him. Varun Dhawan’s cameo has nice foreshadowing from the beginning, he is helpful in the climax but a duet song in the rolling credits was needless, and what was that silly love triangle all about? Shraddha Kapoor’s true identity is revealed at the right time with a small emotional touch.

Performances:

Rajkummar Rao underplays neatly except for the heroic finale, his portions along with his friends click big time at the theatre to cheer and clap, for the laughs they offer. Shraddha Kapoor gets a memorable role in the kitty, she takes the story forward with a sensible twist and gets a tidy payoff as well. The hilarious presence of Abhishek Banerjee, Pankaj Tripathi and Aparshakti Khurana add immense value for the commercial aspect. The cameo appearances of Akshay Kumar, Tamannah Bhatia and Varun Dhawan make it a star vehicle to work better with the masses.

Technicalities:

Good songs by Sachin–Jigar give platter feel with some nice variety. They are also shot well, both the montage tracks and the ones arranged inside sets. Background score by Justin Varghese levels up the intense spots, and lightens the mood during the fun part, task done right. Top notch camera work by Jishnu Bhattacharjee getting the perfect shot compositions and angles for the scary scenes. The night sequences are beautifully lit and the mood has maintained in the DI table (Prime Focus LTD.) too. Editing by Hemanti Sarkar is a mixed bag, very neat at times but falters with some abrupt jump cuts and lags in the latter. Quality VFX work (Digital Domain, Labyrinth), the wolf involving shots is a little short of finesse, the crucial ghost part is done with so much care and helps in the believability factor.

Bottomline

Offers an equal share of quirky humour and spine-chilling fears. Certain parts could have been more entertaining, however the audience pulse is judged on-point. A solid first half followed by a passable second.

Rating - 3/ 5