Amar Kaushik: ‘We know what our third part will be’

Stree 2

"Maza aa raha hai," is the first thing Amar Kaushik tells us, when we sit down to discuss his latest release, Stree 2. The director's elation is justified. The Rajkummar Rao and Shraddha Kapoor-starrer's gross collections reportedly zoomed past the Rs 300-crore mark on Wednesday. "We all knew the buzz was good, but the numbers are unprecedented. What mattered to me was not the early box-office figure. [Those numbers can be attributed to] the first part's success, so they aren't to our credit. It's the numbers after the third day that I care for. We have made a film that people have liked; that's very important to us," he beams.

With the horror comedy, Kaushik takes forward the universe set up by original creators Raj-DK. The director teamed up with writer Niren Bhatt, his Bhediya (2022) collaborator, to create a story that would be a natural extension of the 2018 original, while introducing new elements. "Everyone in the industry discourages sequels. But Niren and I found answers in the first film - Stree's backstory was there, Sarkata was seeded there because Stree had demolished him. The fact that Sarkata picks up modern women, who have agency, is also a follow-up from the original. The humour and the characters' journey were added along the way."

Stree 2, like the original, has a feminist theme. From Kapoor's character fighting Sarkata while the male characters cower in fear in the pre-interval sequence, to it depicting how men rob women's agency under the guise of protecting them, the horror comedy puts women and their independence at its centre. Is the messaging woven in at the story stage itself? "It happens a lot later," says the director. His first priority is to build a "solid" story. "No one can write a film with messaging at the forefront. It will get preachy, and that is never the point of a story. Stree 2 doesn't want to protest at all, it wants to feed your critical thinking. The film is called Stree; she is surrounded by men, but it is her story. We added small things in the climax, like the man and the woman uniting to beat the demon. Look what it's telling - that to beat patriarchy, we have to be allies."

Kaushik adds, "The universe of Stree is set now. Because of Easter eggs, we know what our third part will be. It's not written out, but Niren and I made notes and know the flow." These Easter eggs, cameos, and crossover of the horror-comedy universe have made Stree 2 a joyride. And with them have come conspiracy theories. The most popular one: that Akshay Kumar is actually Sarkata. What does Kaushik have to say about that? "No. We had an actor Mukesh [Kumar], we modelled Sarkata on his face." The writer-director duo smartly seeded in the future of the franchise with Kumar's character. Was it easy roping in the superstar for the cameo? "It was the easiest casting I've ever done! I was producing Sky Force, which he stars in. I mentioned the character to him during lunch break one day. He was more than happy to do it. On a Sunday, he came in and shot for us!"

Stree 2's box-office success is important in more ways than one. It has not only pulled the industry out of its lull, but also disproved the theory that only superstar vehicles are the formula for theatrical success. It's a lesson Kaushik knew beforehand. He explains, "Shah Rukh Khan films are working not because he is a star, but because they are honest movies. A message alone doesn't make a film sail. It's about having a grip on the audience's mind. Entertain them, thrill them, evoke emotions in them. The audience can sense the filmmaker's energy and conviction."