‘Stree 2’ movie review: Rajkummar Rao, Shraddha Kapoor and gang deliver the laughs, but not much else

A still from ‘Stree 2’

In Stree 2, Vicky, the lovable small-town sop played by Rajkummar Rao, is reminded that his biggest strengths in life are ‘sachai aur saralta’ — truth and simplicity. If the film itself has a kernel of truth — its villain is a chauvinistic headless monster analogous with a modern-day ‘influencer’, corrupting the minds of young men — such ideas are gradually obscured in a smog of franchise complexity. Stree 2, directed by Amar Kaushik, coasts along on the charms of the original. Yet it feels factory-made, unlike the first film, which felt tailor-made.

Having rid his beloved Chanderi of the menace of Stree — a frightening female spirit who abducted lone men at night — ladies tailor Vicky is now a lovesick drunk. He pines for, and frequently daydreams about, the girl-with-no-name (Shraddha Kapoor), who skipped town with Stree’s braid at the end of the first film and hasn’t been sighted since. Vicky’s pals are no less love-struck. Bittu (Aparshakti Khurana) is yet to get to first base with his new crush. Likewise, when Rudra bhaiya (Pankaj Tripathi), the resident paranologist, receives an unexpected letter — “gupt sandesh” (secret message) is how he delightedly phrases it — he instantly thinks of his old flame, a woman named Shama.

In truth, the letter is a warning. Its contents bear out strange events afoot in Chanderi: the abduction of young girls by ‘Sarkata’, a towering demon with an ancient grouse against Stree. His detachable flying head is the best sight gag in the film, rolling up like an innocuous ball of wool before attacking its victims with its tentacles-like hair. Literal dreadlocks, so to speak.

In its first half, Stree 2 has the texture and whimsy of Raj & DK’s original screenplay (Niren Bhatt has penned the sequel). The wordplay is consistently funny — “Intimate feasting,” Bittu smiles at his beloved, though he means intermittent fasting — and there are a series of callbacks that will delight fans of the first. A lot of time is expended in plot establishment and the assembly of the core team. “First Stree, then Bhediya… why do I always get stuck?” complains Jana (Abhishek Banerjee), back from a detour to Delhi.

The commentary on patriarchy and gender dynamics that lent a purposeful edge to Kaushik’s debut film is kept to a minimum here. Sarkata expressly attacks women with adhunik soch (modern thinking), which spans smoking, drinking, and marrying outside one’s caste. Strangely, Rudra’s suggestion to lure him out involves hosting a dance program, hardly a modern invention. Equally bizarre is a sequence where the surviving womenfolk of Chanderi unanimously elect Vicky as their savior (this was handled better in Stree, through a personal backstory).

Rajkummar Rao, Abhishek Banerjee and Aparshakti Khurana in ‘Stree 2’

Some of the comic ideas are splendid. Chased by Sarkata one night, Vicky and his friends take refuge inside a hollow and wooden prop. As they stand, it’s revealed to be the fake elephant paraded on fairgrounds. “There is a field beyond right and wrong…” Vicky waxes lyrical at one point, quoting Rockstar. “Yes,” retorts Bittu. “And next to that a madhouse.”

Rajkummar Rao is still a hoot as the tremulous tailor, a little man caught in a grand narrative. He sticks to the essential sweetness of Vicky: “Are you really inside me?” he asks with genuine astonishment when Kapoor’s character works one of her magic tricks, fusing their bodies together. Kapoor’s mystery sorceress is a more involved presence this go-around, cooly twirling her luminescent ponytail like a lasso. She is all the superhero presence this film needed, but then Kaushik has other plans.

As you already know, Stree 2 is part of an ongoing cinematic universe. The film ends with a post-credit sequence and then a post-post-credit sequence. An actor who utterly jars with this world is shooed-in. This is a desparate new fad that has enchanted Indian cinema. It may pay dividends in the short term — as it has done for other franchises — but I suspect audiences here will soon tire of it. One feels particularly concerned for Maddock. Cops and spies and action heroes make sense for a team-up, as do superheroes, but werewolves and ghosts? When did they get so pally?

Stree 2 is currently running in theatres