Stree
Year: 2018
Director: Amar Kaushik
Cast: Rajkummar Rao, Sharddha Kapoor, Pankaj Tripathi, Atul Shrivastava, Aparshakti Khurana,  Abhishek Banerji

What’s the plot?

Chanderi is a small hinterland town terrorized by an old curse. It is said that a witch arrives there during the annual Puja festival and takes away single young males, just leaving their clothes behind! The town’s talented young tailor (Rajkummar Rao) doesn’t really believe in such ancient tales but then a mysterious out-of-town girl (Shraddha Kapoor) whom he fancies, and a series of unexplainable incidents start spooking him and his friends. Is there a real witch? And if there is one, then why is she haunting the town?

What’s hot?

Stree draws upon the traditional sleepy town ghost-stories and gives them a comic twist. The small-town characters, lingo and attitudes are perfectly captured. Rajkummar Rao, Pankaj Tripathi, Atul Shrivastava, Aparshakti Khurana, and Abhishek Banerji essay their quirky characters with endearing weirdness. Shraddha Kapoor gives the suitable mystery-feel to her role. The creepy atmosphere and the supernatural scenes are effectively constructed.

What’s not?

The movie had the potential of being a laugh riot but somehow comes up a bit short on the fun quotient. Most of the comic punches make you smile rather than laugh.

Verdict

Barring the zany Go Goa Gone, Bollywood hasn’t come up with any notable horror-comedies. Stree tries to fill in the breech and does that rather well. It is yet another feather in the versatile Rajkummar Rao's cap!

Rating

3 stars