So happy I was finally able to watch this! With the nuttiness of my life this past month (two big family visits, plus work stuff) I really thought I wouldn’t be able to catch it in theaters. I finally did, but was also late so I think I missed about the first ten minutes? Still incredible though!
Maddock Films is going all in on the Horror Comedy Universe thing! And I think that is good. For one thing, it is NOT an imitation of a Hollywood genre. I mean, Horror Comedy does exist in other countries, but the way it weaves together culture legends that reflect social fears, and by making fun of them, undercuts the social prejudices? That is uniquely AWESOMELY Indian. I like the horror non-comedies too, I mean Pari is absolutely brilliant. But comedy is just that slightly more powerful way of punching holes in power systems.
What makes Stree 2 work, just like it made Stree 1 work, is the trio of goofball “heroes”. Aparshakti Khurrana, Rajkummar Rao, and Abishek Banerjee lean fully into playing flawed young humans. It’s not over the top like in a Golmaal movie, that’s what makes it work so well, it’s just poking fun at young men from villages. They are cheap, they are cowards, they don’t understand romance, and that’s okay because they are still good people.
Often comedy serves the Patriarchy by showing the same cheap-coward-etc. hero who then wins all the fight scenes and gets the girl and so on. It says that even the funniest stupidest man is still a Superhero. This movie does the opposite. It says that even the funniest stupidest man is still too smart to harm others. Our three “heroes” treat women with respect when they talk to them, have their morals of right and wrong in place, and ultimately are willing to overcome their fear in order to help their village.
I don’t want to spoil the plot, because it’s a fun one you should enjoy on your own, but I can tell you it is a lovely continuation and counterpoint to Stree 1. In a way that makes the social message even stronger, it’s attaching with jokes from two directions so we really REALLY get what it is trying to say.
One final thing, Stree 1 is unfortunately only on Hulu without subs. But you can buy it on google play WITH subs. So if this review makes you want to rewatch it, you can!
Hopefully Stree 2 will be streaming somewhere more accessible than the Hulu/Disney “we don’t add subs ever” service.