Amar Kaushik’s Stree gave a new life to horror comedy in Bollywood in 2018 and started a cinematic universe that has been, for the most part, an entertaining ride. With Stree 2: Sarkate Ka Atank, Kaushik, along with writer Niren Bhatt, has added to it a sequel that keeps the ball rolling, merging storylines and setting up new ones.
If Stree was about an abused woman exacting revenge on the male population of Chanderi, Stree 2’s premise hits a little closer to home. What Vicky (Rajkummar Rao) and his gang of merry, bumbling ghostbusters — Jana (Abhishek Banerjee), Bittu (Aparshakti Khurrana) and Rudra (Pankaj Tripathi) — have to contend with this time around is a headless menace that is attacking and abducting the women of Chanderi who have dared to break out of traditional patriarchal roles assigned to them — namely cooking, cleaning and sleeping with their men.
At a time when women are taking to the streets across the country in protest against the R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital ‘rape and murder’ case, this movie feels even more topical, even though women in India have been looking over their shoulders and feeling unsafe almost every day. At least in Chanderi, the threat is only supernatural.
Fortunately for the women of Chanderi (and this is where my beef with the film lies) they have four men willing to go to battle, albeit scared and hesitant, to vanquish the threat and free the women. For a film that has a strong message about patriarchy and the role of women it perpetuates, resorting to a male saviour, even though he had help from a woman, is a bit difficult to swallow.
What makes it a little better is that the man in question is the charming, adorable and virginal Vicky, a role with which Rao continues his excellent performance streak this year. Vicky and his friends get involved in the fracas once Bittu’s girlfriend gets abducted. A strange man (Akshay Kumar in a cameo) sends a few pages warning the crew about the impending headless monster menace now that Stree has been banished from the town.
Into the fray comes Vicky’s love interest, the woman with no name (Shraddha Kapoor), our sorceress from the original film, who teams up with the mortal men to defeat the Sarkata who is spreading ‘atank’. Shraddha has far less screen time in Stree 2 but she does exude an air of mystery and allure. And a woman taking the lead in the action is always a welcome sight.
The team-up also includes a crossover with Varun Dhawan’s bhediya showing up (how he entered the Upside Down-like lair of the Sarkata where he has the women imprisoned is a question that is not answered) and joining in the fight. It, however, feels a little forced.
What the film has in spades though are the scares and laughs which come often and effectively. Pop culture references are slipped in perfectly, including a shoutout to The Big Bang Theory. While the best one-liners belong to Tripathi, the rest of the crew just keeps the humour and the energy high with their impeccable comic timing and chemistry.
Even though the VFX is much improved from the original, the climax seems to be in the grip of Marvel fever. We mean a convoluted mess where too many things happen at the same time and not always to great effect. None of the songs are memorable either. But barring these few flaws, Stree 2 is a blast and you are in for a fun, scary ride.
