PLOT SUMMARY: Based on the urban legend 'Nale Ba', Vicky and his friends encounter the legend of Stree when a mysterious woman comes to their town.
Every country, city, town or village have their own folklore, most of them based on superstition.
I've always believed most of these stories were created to keep people in line and let them follow rules.
However, most of these rules are made up for women. In most of these myths, you'll find horror stories of women being abducted or possessed because they wandered about at night. This is just to throw a veil on the real cause of worry of a woman roaming alone at night. After all, when has it ever been safe for a woman to walk alone at night?
Over the years, these myths have been disregarded and seen as ridiculous.
It is always interesting to read about them, though. They provide an interesting base for horror stories.
One such myth has been the basis of the movie Stree. Apparently in a small town, people believed a woman in bridal attire, knocked on homes and abducted the men.
To prevent this from happening, they wrote on their walls: naala ba, bhoota or o Stree, repu raa, which roughly translates to come tomorrow ghost or O lady, come tomorrow.
The movie too uses the same saying that the townsfolk write in red, large letters outside their homes. O Stree Kal aana. Meaning : oh lady, come tomorrow.
This is supposed to ward of the evil ghost. I wonder why it wasn't : Oh Stree, mat aana. Translation: O Lady, don't come.
Anyway, this is a fresh, funny take on the myth and impeccably told.
STREE Movie Plot
The movie begins with a man being abducted, but you can see a hint of a smile before he vanishes. We wonder, is she a beautiful ghost?
The next scene introduces the protagonist, a skilled tailor who doesn't appreciate his talent. He can take measurements without an inch tape.
A four-day festival is also going on and the people are afraid because this is when Stree appears.
She calls out their names thrice before taking the men.
We see Vicky, the tailor's name being called, but are instead introduced to the heroine whose name is never revealed. She pleads with him to make her dress before the end of the festival and he agrees immediately because he's fallen in love at first sight.
His two friends don't believe he has found the love of his life and make fun of him. In the evening, they meet a book salesman who advises the two friends that no matter what, keep walking when Stree calls out their name thrice. He ends the conversation by saying that no matter what...
The conversation is broken by his wife's phone call and he leaves the friends with incomplete advice.
The friends are at a party when Vicky excuses himself and goes out to pee. Since he doesn't believe in the myth, he happily pees on the wall, smudging the words Kal, leaving only O Stree, aana. Meaning he just invited Stree in. Sure enough, Stree appears and the friend who removes his slippers and keeps walking just as he was advised. We then learn what the incomplete advice was: no matter what, don't turn around. The hapless friend turns around and is abducted.
The people blame Vicky and he takes it upon himself to find his friend.
The next day, he opens a letter the heroine had given him and finds an unusual list of items.
Once again, the friends warn him and this time Vicky begins to tick on his imaginary checklist. She doesn't enter the temple, she hasn't given him a name, no one has seen her, and the items she asked for seem to be black magic items.
Vicky stitches the heroine's dress in record time and waits to meet her since she hasn't given him a number either. After giving her the dress, she disappears and Vicky is convinced she is Stree.
Along with his friend and the book salesman, they devise a plan to go to the last place Stree was in when alive.
When Stree arrives, she doesn't attack him and before anything can happen, the heroine arrives to throw some powder on her. Now it is confirmed the heroine is not Stree but a ghost hunter.
Out of nowhere, the friend who had been abducted appears.
However, we soon see he is under the ghost's control. He attacks his friends and smudges all the lettering on the walls. The next morning, twenty men have disappeared.
The writer of a book on Stree gives them a riddle, promising them that the town has a saviour. The saviour is none other than Vicky who fits the list, even the one where the saviour is supposed to be the son of a courtesan.
Vicky, obliged that the townsfolk respected him nevertheless and never told him of his origins, is ready to put his life at risk.
Everyone believes Stree only wants to complete her nuptial night, so Vicky decides to distract her while the heroine will recite a mantra to diminish Stree's powers.
STREE Ending Explained with Spoilers!
Things don't go as planned and Vicky realizes Stree doesn't want anything but respect. As the story goes, no one respected women and she had finally found one man who did and married her. But the townsfolk killed her and her husband before they could consummate their marriage.
The heroine asks Vicky if it is okay if he doesn't want to kill her, but he had to cut off her braid to weaken her powers. He does so and Stree vanishes.
The heroine leaves the town and Vicky realizes he forgot to ask her name. At the bus, the heroine is seen removing the braid and attaching it to her own, suggesting she's been looking for ghosts to steal their powers.
Is she evil? Perhaps. The next instant, she disappears.
The next year, Stree tries to enter the town once again but sees a statue of her at the entrance. Underneath is written: Stree, raksha karna. Meaning: Lady, protect us.
It is an entertaining tale with a humorous twist, while also focusing on an issue prevalent even today, respect for women.
Scare scale: 4/5
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