Amar Kaushik’s Stree 2 gets one thing right—it shows the kind of male hero we need.
Rajkummar Rao as Vicky is a small-town women’s tailor who has his heart in the right place. He does not have bulging muscles nor is scarred by his ‘dubious’ family history. Neither does he feel emasculated by his profession — he stitches everything from blouses and lehengas to petticoats.
A sequel to the sleeper hit Stree (2018), the film’s antagonist is a headless ghost who abducts women of ‘modern’ thoughts — those who lead independent lives and have dreams bigger than what their small towns ‘allow’. The saviour is Vicky, who, as the first film tells us, is the son of a sex worker.
This revelation in a typical male-led film would be accompanied by cuss words, dramatic music, or even anger. But Vicky, after the initial shock of knowing about his family history, simply says, “She was my mother”. That was it. He does not even question the reason for her choice of profession.
His father, too, tells him that love can happen anytime and asks Vicky to gain sexual experience since that is a part of staying healthy. As a result, the small-town tailor starts enjoying himself — a local dancer performs at a men’s club to much of his pleasure.
When a good-looking stranger (Shraddha Kapoor) approaches him to stitch a lehenga within a week, Vicky gives in to her feminine, damsel-in-distress appeal, enthusiastically agrees to do the job, and even shows interest in her. But when she refuses to share details about herself, he starts wondering whether she is Stree—the ghost.
Breaking trends
A common rationale behind the popularity of KGF instalments, RRR (2022), Pushpa (2021), Kabir Singh (2019), or Animal (2023) is that hypermasculinity sells. Bulging biceps, over-the-top action, saviour complex are good for showbiz commerce.
But the success of Stree 2, which had more advanced bookings than the epic-inspired Brahmastra (2022), came as a surprise. It made Rs 64.8 crores on opening day, the biggest one in Hindi cinema this year.
Stree 2 effectively dismantles the trend of high-octane movies with hypermasculine leads ruling the roost. Men ‘written by women’ or sensitive, supportive men who are aware of their shortcomings are gradually becoming winners.
Add humour to the mix, and we actually have a winning dating profile.
That’s why the film ends with the most firecracker dialogue: “Bhediya hai tu bhediya, Animal mat ban (You are a wolf, do not be Animal)”. It is a direct dig at Sandeep Vanga Reddy’s violently misogynist film, Animal. That is the legit takeaway — be anything but a misogynistic prick.
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(Edited by Humra Laeeq)
Ms. Tina Das! Please don’t force your choices on society at large.
Stree2 shows the kind of male hero you need and NOT what we need.