Rajkummar Rao is riding high on the success of his latest horror-comedy, ‘Stree 2’, which stars Shraddha Kapoor, Pankaj Tripathi, Abhishek Banerjee, and Aparshakti Khurana. The film has taken the box office by storm, raking in over ₹386 crores in India and surpassing the ₹500 crore mark globally within just 10 days. Directed by Amar Kaushik, this sequel to the 2018 hit ‘Stree’ has captivated audiences worldwide. Reflecting on his journey in Bollywood, Rao, who made his debut with ‘Rann’ and has since starred in critically acclaimed films like ‘Love Sex Aur Dhokha’, ‘Shahid’, ‘Kai Po Che!’, and ‘Aligarh’, shared his insights on the evolving landscape of Hindi cinema.
In an exclusive chat with News18 Showsha, Rajkummar Rao shared, “I think it is a welcome change. People are really focussing on writing a good script and people are focussing on telling good stories. And actors are also challenging themselves. They are trying different genres and different characters. I think it’s a great time to be here.”
He added, “And now there’s a lot of exposure to International cinema. The audience is consuming a lot of it. And they expect that kind of storytelling from us also. Even they think why are we in a rut and making the same kind of films? Why can’t we explore something new?
And that’s when a Stree comes in, people see something unique and something so fresh and they take it with open arms.”
Released on August 15, Stree 2 competed with Nikkhil Advani’s Vedaa, starring Sharvari and John Abraham, and Mudassar Aziz’s Khel Khel Mein, starring Akshay Kumar, but emerged as the top earner among them. The movie, written by Niren Bhatt, also stars Aparshakti Khurana, Pankaj Tripathi, and Abhishek Banerjee. Stree 2 is part of Maddock Films’ horror comedy universe, which includes films like Bhediya and Munjya.
The film continues the eerie story of Chanderi, with Rajkummar Rao and Shraddha Kapoor reprising their iconic roles. This time, the town faces a new threat, Sarkata, and turns to Stree for help. The film also features exciting cameos, including Varun Dhawan as Bhediya.
Critically, Stree 2 has been well-received. News18 Showsha gave it a 3.5/5 rating, praising the performances of Shraddha Kapoor and Rajkummar Rao. Although some fans wanted more screen time for Shraddha, her action scenes and Rajkummar’s versatile acting were highlights of the much-loved franchise.
Earlier, in an interview with indianexpress.com, Amar Kaushik reacted to the film setting the box office on fire. He had said, “I am very happy actually. I am very happy that the film is performing so well at the box office. I always had this one thing in my mind: numbers should not come by fluke whenever I make a film. For Stree 2, I wanted to make sure that people were not going to watch it only because they loved part one. It was important to me that people liked the film. I have always craved love from the reviewers as well as the audience.”
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