It looks like Stree 2 has been granted a bigger budget for VFX and sound, bringing with it a promise of more chills, observes Deepa Gahlot.
Perhaps anticipating the success of 2018's Stree, like every smart film-maker today, a possibility of a sequel was built into the ending of the film.
Stree 2 comes six years later, enough time to get fans excited, but also too much of a gap, for those with short memories.
The original, written by Raj and DK, and directed by Amar Kaushik, started the horror universe of Producer Dinesh Vijan.
The latest in the series Munjya has proved successful too, so there was always a demand for desi horror, based on village folk tales and beliefs, that had not been adequately addressed.
Stree cleverly tapped into the feminist mood too, by setting it in the town of Chanderi, terrorised by a female spook, for four days each year, during an annual pooja.
During this time, men are afraid of stepping out of their homes to escape the ghoul on the prowl.
The spirit calls out to men walking down dark streets, and if they turn, they vanish, leaving just a pile of their clothes behind.
But if they have painted O Stree kal aana on their walls, they are spared.
Vicky (Rajkummar Rao), a tailor and cool dude of Chanderi, thinks he is too rational to bother about these superstitions, till he is confronted with the existence of Stree.
He is besotted by a strange unnamed woman (Shraddha Kapoor), who appears and disappears suddenly, does not have a cell phone and won't enter the town's temple.
When she asks him to get her some odd things like a white cat's hair and a lizard's tail, Vicky's friends, Bittu (Aparshakti Khurana) and Jana (Abhishek Banerjee) are convinced this nameless girlfriend is a witch.
They seek the help of the town's know-all bookseller, Rudra (Pankaj Tripathi).
The tone of the film mixed mockery of superstition about chudailS, with horror, and the film worked.
It ended with the unnamed woman leaving with the braid that held the spirit's power, and in Stree 2, that force is unleashed again.
In the sequel, directed by Amar Kaushik, the vengeful spirit is back, along with the mysterious nameless woman.
From glimpses of the teaser, the horror has been heightened -- shots of fire and blood, footsteps of the ghost with feet turned inside out (according to Indian folklore, the feet are a way to recognise a dayan), dagger-like nails of a woman, and a lot more terrified screaming, spine-chilling shrieks and full-blown panic.
Varun Dhawan, who had played Bhediya in the 2022 horror universe, is reportedly making a guest appearance, along with Tamannaah Bhatia, to add some zing to the returning cast.
Vicky, who had rid the town of the spirit in the last film, is called upon to repeat the feat.
In the teaser, he is seen requesting Stree, not to take his clothes off when he turns.
'Friends?' he asks hopefully.
The spirit's reply will be be seen in the film.
It looks like the film has been granted a bigger budget for VFX and sound, bringing with it a promise of more chills.
Stree 2 will release this Independence Day.
