Stree Movie Review

Have you ever seen a movie where the male characters are afraid to go out at night, who asks their female family members to come home early because they are afraid to sit alone or a shot in slow motion where a bunch of young men from a north indian village walking naked and shy behind a woman who has helped them from a GHOST!

The question of whether a film should be political or not is something I have been asking myself for quite sometime. And I think primarily it's subjective, ie the option of the director or the politics of the director will definitely reflect in it. I have come across many films which are politically vocal but doesn't satisfy me as a filmgoer. Kaala was one such recent film in that category. Then there's a whole bunch of filmmakers like Mani Ratnam or Priyadarshan ( in Indian mainstream context) who are good at making thoughtful and entertaining films but pukes really regressive politics at times.

Sthree is a gem of a movie, which is both political and entertaining. And they have chosen horror and comedy to say a strong politics which I feel makes it really subtle. Sthree is a female ghost who abducts young men and leaves only their clothes .Film cleverly subverts the mainstream cliche of a beautiful and young female ghost to make an important point. Funny yet thrilling and scary at times, it ends with a big revelation at the end that disturbs us for sometime.

Rajkumar Rao is terrific as the polite young tailor who is chosen as the saviour of the village from Sthree. Sthree/ Ghost in the movie literally represent every women who are brutally assaulted everyday by the men. She comes once an year for four days looking for young men to have sex(suhaag raath). This is the myth believed by the villagers and Sthree rewrites the entire myth by the end of the movie. Also it's interesting to know why the Sthree picks up men naked. Progressing through really funny dialogues and situational comedy by well synced performance by a bunch of talented actors like Pankaj tripathi, Shraddha , Rajkumar and his friends , it ends with a terrific climax and much more to think after that. Must watch if you haven't seen it yet.