Stree — A Landmark Horror Comedy in Bollywood
A simple folklore-based movie that gets audience laughs from horror of characters
Horror comedy is perhaps the most difficult genre to succeed in.
Bollywood has had a handful of decent films that can claim to be horror comedies. But in those, horror and comedies were separate scenes, such as in Bhool Bhulaiya, Golmaal Again, etc.
But the reason Stree is perhaps the first authentic horror comedy in Bollywood (correct me if I’m wrong), is that there are few scenes where you will laugh and be shit scared at the same time!
The trailer looked promising and when I saw Rajkummar Rao and Pankaj Tripathi sharing screen in many scenes in the trailer, I knew I had to watch this film (especially after their amazing performance together in Newton). Moreover, the trailer showed that women are safe but men are scared to venture out at night, which is essentially reversing the way our society works, which further intrigued me. And lastly, a promise of good horror comedy pulled me to the theater, and my wife and I saw this movie on Friday (1st day) itself, just after we returned from our offices!
Greatest reason for success of anything is consistency. This movie promises horror and comedy and it consistently delivers horror and comedy. Moreover, it keeps raising stakes in the plot until the final face-off with Stree, which is well-shot and well-done!
Moreover, and this is the most amazing part of the movie, humor doesn’t dampen the scares. Horror needs certain time to buildup the scare and humor can easily break that fear. But when humor becomes part of the horror and you get to enjoy both, that’s when you realize that a masterpiece has been created.
Stree did leave me with a few questions but the final scene of the movie overwhelmed me so much that I decided to ignore those tiny little holes in an otherwise beautifully woven experience!
Go for it. Watch it on the big screen for an amazing experience.
My favorite dialogue: “Bicky Please!”
My favorite scene: Too many to count, but definitely the last scene.
Best part about the film: No cheap humor. And the blend of horror and humor.
