Kamalika Deka
Sep 2, 2018 · 4 min read

Stree- movie review.

Image courtesy: https://images.firstpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/stree-int.jpg

Released on Friday the 31st of August in 2018 in India. Spoilers ahead.

Ok with all that said, let’s begin. It is a fresh a take on a very ridiculously true phenomenon as the movie says in the beginning and in the poster above too. A horror/comedy genre. I think it’s a good genre for those who loves comedy but are too scared to watch horror movies, I can vouch for that because my sister can never watch a horror movie even she enjoyed it. So on that front the movie was successful.

So what was that ridiculous phonomenon that the movie was based on? A very ridiculous phenomenon indeed. Respect women. Yea that’s it. Two words. But how seldom is it followed. No the movie wasn’t made by a female director, but by a director I should say. Because men don’t need special labels like female director or female actor. They are just director and actor. But anyway that’s not of importance. What I want to say is that the movie was made from a very indian perspective but the phenomenon it talked about was very global. This was not the only movie that spoke about it, a lot of other movies touched this concept too. But what is so special about this one you ask?

Time to dissect the movie to explain why it was so special. First of all it was a light hearted movie. And the concept is light hearted too. You don’t have to be so serious to think about respecting women. You respect your elders similarly respect women. Both are human only. No difference. It’s not like you should only respect women. Respect everyone only then you will be respected. Remember what goes around comes back around? Done remember that. Easy peasy.

Next it is based on a very small town in northern India where voodoo, black magic, chudail( witch) are behind every superstition. So in this town every year there’s a time when stree (female), yeah the witch is literally called female, comes to haunt and hunt for men for four days. Keep in mind these four days the men don’t come out of their houses alone for the fear that they might be the victim. So atleast in this town out of the 365 days, for 4 days the women can safely come out and hang around till late night without worrying about getting raped or molested or eve teased. The roles are reversed. The state of women here in our country is shown by the state of men in the small town during those four days. I feel like there should be a stree who comes around every night. So first the plight of women are felt by men.

And the concept of consent was added into the story so beautifully that it would almost be missed if you don’t follow the dialogues. The ghost is a literate one and she calls your name and wait till the man turns around. Otherwise if you don’t turn around and walk away minding your business she won’t bother you. But the catch is she has a very sexy voice that just mesmerises you and the third time you lose all your control and turn. I mean women are the reason the word sexy was developed, if a man is mesmerised he obviously has to sleep with her. Consent? Who cares. If she s sleeping that means it’s a yes. That how the character literally talked about it. But not our witch stree she waits for you to turn. And then doesn’t kill, just takes the man away leaving behind their clothes. Since she is very desperate to make love. I mean that’s all that a woman wants right?

Then there’s a mysterious girl who came out of nowhere and our hero falls head over heels for her only to discover that she might be stree. I mean ironically she s a female. But she turns out to be stree actually and turns out she was just trying to make the people of the town realise that hitting and killing doesn’t solve any problem. I mean that’s what happens in horror movies right?? You kill the thing that was dead already in the first place. Huh. Such a touche. But the deal here is she was just trying to make them respect stree implying respect female.

You see the whole concept of a men-kidnapping-witch is metaphorical. The idea of respecting female was given the form of a witch to send a clearer message. It’s a satire altogether.

The story is very easy to grasp. The dialogues are simple and yet very witty and funny. In an indian upbringing itself we are brought up in a very spiritual environment. It’s a different case that we choose to lose our terms with spirituality when we grow up. But anyway it’s there in our subconscious. So for an indian the story is very relatable and the characters are very relatable. So overall the feel of the movie is built in a very indian way. But it had comedy too right? So how s that implemented. The director must have watched and analysed the horror movies. What is it that makes the horror movie typically horror, like seperate and be alone when a ghost is around, check, the first victim running away from ghost and tripping in thin air, check, do exactly as you were told not to do when you asked as to how to prevent being the victim. He analysed it so thoroughly even though it was supposed to be scary those typical moments of terror was what made the movie even funnier besides the witty dialogues. With this I don’t mean the other movies didn’t do a good job. Those were needed too and it’s ridiculous that we even need to make movies about respecting women. So you see how ridiculous the phenomenon is?

Kamalika Deka

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Not a writer. Corrections or new ideas are welcomed!!