Stree Film Review – Of Witches, Witchcraft and More

With as cheesy a tagline as “Iss saal mard ko dard hoga,” Stree provides kitschy entertainment while its folklore takes you into a world of blind faith, superstition and black magic. Set in the historical town of Chanderi in Madhya Pradesh, Stree film review examines the movie.

Stree Film Review

Actual events loosely inspire Stree. Rajkummar Rao and Pankaj Tripathi play the leading roles with Shraddha Kapoor featuring prominently as well.

Stree has a rather straightforward narrative. There is a witch that haunts Chanderi every year at around the same time and abducts the menfolk of the village leaving only their clothes behind. Tripathi plays Rudra, one of the more literate among the village folk, who thinks that he knows everything about the witch. All the while, the villagers are on tenterhooks and take precaution like writing on their walls to keep the evil at bay.

Vicky (Rajkummar Rao), a local tailor who has a knack for stitching women’s attire and his two buddies, one of whom runs a ready-made clothes store,  seek help from Tripathi’s Rudra on how to get rid of this evil for good. The rest of the story plays out expectedly with the trio chasing the witch away.

The movie has its share of dialogues that make you giggle. Although, now and then, the narrative seems to go into a lull, with scenes that don’t necessarily propel the story forward. Despite its patchy screenplay and some rather forgettable characters, this horror-comedy won’t disappoint you. Some moments might even give you a slight jolt as the scary witch appears.

The setting is rustic with the foreboding palpable among the village folk of Chanderi. A Vijay Raaz cameo is almost wasted and is one of the many scenes that seem to serve no purpose whatsoever. A meatier role for the talented actor might have done a whole lot of good for the movie. Aparshakti Khurana who plays Vicky’s friend Bittu doesn’t charm you as much either with his funny act. The other mate, Jalna, played by Abhishek Banerjee isn’t that enduring as well. More experienced actors might have had a far better grip on these two characters, which are surprisingly well-etched-out in the script.

If you are a Rajkummar Rao fan and don’t mind a mildly amusing horror film, this one might be what the doctor ordered. For everyone else, Stree is not going to entertain you as much as you would have liked. It is a marginally above-average fare that will most likely evaporate from your consciousness soon after exiting the cinema hall.

Film Comments’ Stree film review rates Stree (3 / 5)

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