Stree (2018 film)

The plot is based on the Indian folk legend about a witch who abducts men at night when they are alone and only leaves their clothes behind. The residents of a town named Chanderi believe in the spirit of an angry woman, referred to as "Stree", who stalks men and whisks them away during the four days of a religious festival every year, causing many disappearances over the years. To protect the residents from her wrath, "O Stree, come tomorrow" is written in Hindi (ओ स्त्री, कल आना) with bat's blood on the entrances of all homes and men are advised to not roam alone after 10 pm during the festive season, and move in groups for safety - a parallel of instructions women are usually told to follow for their own safety.

Vicky, a ladies' tailor in Chanderi, mysteriously encounters an unnamed charming woman who only comes to the town during the annual Pooja season and falls in love with her at first sight. She asks him to stitch her a lehanga. Her frequent disappearances, her shopping list including peculiar items such as a lizard's tail, white cat's fur, flowers of Datura, meat, brandy and such like presumed to be ingredients for black magic and the fact that she is not seen by anybody except Vicky, makes his friend Bittu suspicious, and he starts believing that she could be Stree. After one of his friends, Janna, is kidnapped by Stree, Vicky grows suspicious of the woman as well. He confronts her on which she disappears yet again.

They decide to find a way to save their friend and ask the town's librarian Rudra Bhaiya for help, who is also a paranologist. In Rudra's book shop, they come across a partially torn book titled "Chanderi Puran" in his library which mentions Stree's story and an old fort which Vicky claims he has seen when he was on a date with the woman. Vicky, Bittu, and Rudra then visit the old fort, which Stree is supposedly inhabiting, to find Janna. Stree drives away Bittu and Rudra and is about to attack Vicky but does not, as she senses the feeling of love and respect in his eyes. She is then driven away by the unknown woman's spell. She reveals later that she has been trying to defeat 'Stree' for the last three years after losing someone close to her and that is why she comes to the town only during the festive season. This clarifies that she & Stree are two different persons. Stree releases Janna as requested by Vicky the same night, however, he starts having sporadic violent episodes. More men go missing after a possessed Janna, under Stree's control, erases the word "Tomorrow" (कल) from the protective phrases outside everyone's homes, leaving it as "O Stree, come"; (ओ स्त्री, आना) an invitation.

Vicky, Bittu, Rudra and the woman decide to meet the book's author Shankar Shastri to find a permanent solution to save the town, and he informs them that Stree had once been an extremely beautiful courtesan who every man in town desired. At last, she found a man who truly loved her and wanted to marry her, but on their wedding night, Stree and her husband were killed by the town's jealous men. Her spirit has ever since been searching for her true love and also seeks revenge on the town by aiming to abduct every last man in it. Shastri tells them of a prophecy pointing to a savior and Vicky surprisingly appears to have all the characteristics describing the savior. Initially, Vicky believes that too until he recalls the inclusive feature of the savior, son of a courtesan. His friends then reveal the secret of him being a courtesan's son which infuriates Vicky and he leaves in haste. In a drunk state, he confronts his father to which he silently agrees to upset Vicky further but then feels grateful for his father's affection and efforts, and decides to save his town which accepted him and didn't denounce him. The friends and the woman make a trap to kill Stree but Vicky realizes that Stree only desires love and respect and hesitates with the plan. The woman then suggests Vicky simply cut her long braid - the source of her powers - so that she will be rendered powerless. He does so, and Stree vanishes. The woman leaves the city the next day and Vicky bids her farewell, forgetting to ask her name all this time. On the bus, the woman merges Stree's braid with her own hair and then vanishes from the bus, implying that she is the witch who wanted Stree's power through her braid.

Stree visits Chanderi again the following year and finds her own statue at the town entrance with a new phrase - "O Stree, protect us" (ओ स्त्री, रक्षा करना)- thus giving her respect, and she does not enter Chanderi.

• Shraddha Kapoor as The Unknown Woman (witch)
• Rajkummar Rao as Vikrant "Vicky" Parashar, a ladies tailor
• Pankaj Tripathi as Rudra, a paranologist[14]
• Abhishek Banerjee as Janna, Vicky and Bittu's friend who got possessed by Stree.[15]
• [[ews.com/entertainment/telly-talk/gossip/article/all-the-questions-from-the-seventh-episode-of-amitabh-bachchans-kaun-banega-crorepati-season/283448|title=All the questions from the seventh episode of Amitabh Bachchan's Kaun Banega Crorepati Season 10|website=www.timesnownews.com}}</ref>
• Vijay Raaz as Shastri, the author of Chanderi Puran.[16]
• Aakash Dabhade as Narendra
• Abhishek Singh Rajput as Jaana's friend
• Atul Srivastava as Dashrath Parashar, Vicky's father
• Ramkrishna Dhakad as the tailor's assistant
• Sunita Rajwar as Janna's Mother, Vicky friend's mother
• Nora Fatehi in a special appearance in song "Kamariya"[17]
• Kriti Sanon in a special appearance in the song "Aao Kabhi Haveli Pe"[18]

Stree
Soundtrack album by Sachin–Jigar
Released	17 August 2018 (2018-08-17)[41]
Recorded	2018
Genre	Feature film soundtrack
Length	14:28
Language	Hindi
Label	T-Series
Sachin–Jigar chronology
Gold (2018) Stree (2018) Arjun Patiala (2019)
External audio Official Audio Jukebox on YouTube

The music for the film has been composed by Sachin–Jigar.[42][43][44] The lyrics are written by Vayu except for one song "Aao Kabhi Haveli Pe" which is written by Badshah and Jigar Saraiya. The score, which is composed by Ketan Sodha, who had previously worked on Talvar, also included an extract of the theme song from Mission: Impossible (1996), with an Indian instrumentation in a comedic way.

Vipin Nair of The Hindu gave the soundtrack 2.5/5 stating that it is entertaining though familiar.[45][46] The Times of India based Debarati S Sen, in her review, said the album will "appeal to the masses."[47]

Following the film's release, an additional song, "Dil Ka Darzi", not included on the official jukebox, was released by Maddock Films as a separate song intended for Rao's character, a ladies tailor, and was played in the film in the title credits. Written by Vayu, it featured him as the vocalist along with Prakriti Kakar.

Stree had its trailer released on 26 July 2018.[48] It was released worldwide on 31 August 2018. Stree had collected ₹6.83 crore in India on the first day.[49] In its first weekend, the film crossed ₹32.27 crore in India, earning over its production budget of ₹23 crore.[49] It crossed ₹60.39 crore in its first week run.[49] In its second week movie grossed 35.14 crore net. Movie held well in week 3 and grossed 17.14 crore net. It grossed 9.99 crore net in the fourth week. Its lifetime India net was 129.90 crore. Worldwide the movie grossed 180.76 crore at end of its initial theatrical run.

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a rating of 79%, based on 14 reviews, with an average rating of 6.3/10.[50] The film received positive reviews, with praise directed towards the film's direction, dialogues, screenplay, background score, storyline, performances (particularly Rao, Khurrana, Banerjee and Tripathi) and the social message.[51]

Anupama Chopra of Film Companion gave the film 3.5 stars out of five, stating that "With laughs and scares, Stree delivers an important message."[52] Anna M. M. Vetticad of Firstpost rated it 3.5/5. Praising Rao's acting and the film's humor, she also wrote that "The primary reason why Stree is so effective though is that it does not caricature the people of Chanderi - they are as real and foolish and prejudiced and good as most human beings are, and could well be you or me with less sophistication."[53] Rajeev Masand of News18 also gave 3.5 out of 5: "Stree is especially entertaining, packed with laugh-aloud moments and a cast that’s on top of their game. It’s one of the most original films this year, and I recommend that you make the time for it."[54] Rachit Gupta of The Times of India offered 3.5 out of 5, noting the superlative writing and dialogues, but felt the film was a little too long and had some 'ambiguous ideas.'[55] Raja Sen of the Hindustan Times had a more moderate tone, commending the actor's energy and collaborative efforts but noting a rushed-feeling plot: "The laughs are inconsistent, and the plotting feels sloppy and rushed. The ideas are fine, but the writing needed work."[56]

The film was originally available on Hotstar and JioCinema, but was later on also available on Netflix after Jio Studios signed a deal with the platform. The film is also available on Prime Video.

In October 2018, director Amar Kaushik announced that he is planning a sequel to the film. But according to sources, the original creators Raj and D.K. will not be part of it.[65]

In February 2022, actor Rajkummar Rao revealed that the sequel to Stree is planned.[66]

In Bhediya, Abhishek Banerjee reprised his role as Janna from the movie, thus confirming the Maddock Supernatural Universe . Rajkummar Rao and Aparshakti Khurana also appeared in a mid credit scene confirming that a sequel is on the cards, while Shraddha Kapoor also made a guest appearance in the song "Thumkeshwari" as Stree.

As of March 2023, the sequel to the movie is confirmed to be in pre-production stage and will only to floors from July 2023.[67] In April 2023, the makers announced that the film will release on 31 August 2024.[68]

• Dinesh Vijan's horror-comedy universe

• Stree at IMDb
• Stree at Bollywood Hungama