Stree (2018) [Movie Review]


Dir: Amar Kaushik
Starring: Rajkumar Rao, Shraddha Kapoor
Dur: 2 hrs 7 mins
Genre: Comedy-Thriller
Rating: 8.5/10

In a first of its kind (atleast for me) Bollywood has done a fantastic job with making something great out of something dumb. The film is loosely based on the urban legend of Nale Ba, a female specter who terrorizes men, apparently leaving no trace except for their clothing, during a particular festival. The legend of Nale Ba (literally, ‘don’t come’) is quite prominent in the South of India and in many villages you would find the words written on walls in an attempt to deter the spirit from wreaking her havoc.


The legend is very well brought out in this thoroughly entertaining film. Besides, the strange choice of theme, the film amazed me for its bold attempt to merge two genres that hardly go well together: comedy and horror. Usually, when the two are combined comedy reigns supreme at the expense of horror but here, the director and his team have to applauded for sustaining the eeriness in the midst of all the light-headed and light-heartedness. Rajkumar Rao is an absolute treat. As a matter of fact, the film runs almost entirely on his performance. Aparshakti Khurana and Abhishek Banerjee who play his goofy friends, bring good comedic relief. Shraddha is surprisingly bland. Probably, the nature of her character led her to be so but I was not too impressed with her performance. She appeared to be just a pretty face in this not-so-pretty tale. The make-up and depiction of ‘Stree’ is worth a mention. The major Achilles heel for most horror films is the presentation of the villain. Stree made no mistake about it. They evidently spared no expense to turn the legend into something foreboding, morbid and spooky.

The storyline was simple enough however the ending appeared to be a little confusing. Still, the film is brilliant. I’m happy that it did well at the box office. It deserves all the praise it receives. I think the film has great educational potential. Its novel way of mixing superstition with entertainment and throwing in educative messages is ingenious. Bollywood would do our country a great favour by debunking myths in this popular fashion. The film could help people challenge and rationalize their superstitious beliefs and traditions; if there is someone to lead and guide the discussion, the effect is bound to be stronger.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzeaGcLLl_A

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Great Grand Masti 2 (2016) (Movie Review)

Image
Dir: Indra Kumar Starring: Vivek Oberoi, Riteish Deshmukh, Aftab Shivdasani, Urvashi Rautela Dur: 2 hrs 10 mins Genre: Comedy Rating: 1/10 Comment: The jokes, gestures and costumes are sexually suggestive. An absolute waste of time. “What an opening line”, you might think. But to say otherwise would be an absolute lie. This film is in fact, a great grand waste of time. It’s horrible whichever way you look at it. The story is weak and thrives on cheap thrills and sorry jokes. The actresses are no doubt eye-catching but the rest is all a blur. The comedy is in fact tragedy and the film attempts to play on the basest desires of man. It’s unbelievable that actors like Riteish and Vivek would do such a film. I am not a big fan of bollywood but I still feel bad when I see bollywood making films like these. All of a sudden, I see that sex is being propagated through Indian cinema. The views of sex are changing and filmmakers and actors are not hesitating to take on unconvent
Read more

The Challenge of Mercy

Image
Pope Francis has declared this as the year of mercy, and up until now plenty of reflections have been preached and published on mercy. Perhaps each of us too have made our own reflection on the theme of mercy. Since the inauguration of the year, my mind has often reverted to this theme. Every night when I make an examination of conscience, I evaluate myself: my thoughts, words and deeds vis-à-vis mercy. I realize that I am not merciful most of the time and that I resort to do what benefits me over the merciful thing. Pope Francis realized that the Church needed to revisit the theme of mercy; to reflect upon it and put it into practice. Mercy is at the heart of the Gospel. Jesus is the personified revelator of the Father’s mercy. Through his words and deeds he suffused the scent of mercy. His teachings on mercy are appreciated and continue to inspire people even today. The Church itself was founded on mercy: Christ became the expiation for our sins (1 Jn 4:10; Heb 2:17). He for
Read more

Andadhun (2018) [Movie Review]

Image
Dir: Sriram Raghavan Starring: Ayushmann Khurrana, Radhika Apte and Tabu Dur: 2 hrs 18 mins Genre: Black Comedy Crime Thriller Rating: 3/10 I watched this film on good recommendations. It was hailed as one of the best films of 2018. The mystery surrounding the film went well with the mystery that was actually the film itself. I learnt a hard lesson after watching this film and that is not to go by what other’s say about a film. Given Bollywood’s film making standards, I should not have been surprised. Yet, I found myself pleasantly surprised at the end product. Andadhun tells a complex tale of blindness in a world that is not blind even though it appears so. Confused? Well then, watching the film is not going to make it any better. This film is a classical example of postmodern film-making. It is replete with ample plot twists that don’t allow you to settle into its tricky narrative. Just when you think you have it all figured out, a new twist emerges and challe
Read more