Stree (2018)

Episode 503, 2 Guys and a Chainsaw Horror Movie Review Podcast

Todd: Hello and welcome to another episode of Two Guys and a Chainsaw. I’m Todd. 

Craig: And I’m Craig. 

Todd: Well, this week was my turn to pick the movie, and I may have surprised Craig a little bit with this one. Maybe a little bit, maybe not. He knows I, I like to do things kind of outside of our, uh, normal purview or just really old stuff.

This is a newer movie, so I thought you’d like that. It’s from 2018, but it’s definitely outside of our purview. It is more in the Bollywood area, and I don’t know, have we ever done… Except for one. We did one Indian horror movie before this, I think, right? 

Craig: I don’t know. 

Todd: Yeah, we did one in a shopping mall for Christmas.

It was, um- Yeah. 

Craig: Uh-huh. I remember that. 

Todd: It’s funny, I, um, I recently was dating an Indian woman for a brief time, and, uh, when she learned I was doing a horror podcast, she said, “You have to see this movie, Stree. It is wonderful, and it’s had sequels, and it was really, really popular when it came out, and you’re gonna love it.”

So she sat me down and had me watch this, and that is why I knew about it. So, uh, this is 2018’s Stree, and it was very famous and big when it came out, ’cause it was a bit against the grain of a lot of the other Bollywood films that had come across thus far. There had been horror movies in, in Bollywood, but, uh, they, they tended to kinda fall under two camps, you know?

They’re mostly just, like, cheesy haunted house-type stories or revenge-type ghost stories, and this was the first thing to really kinda break out of that mold and be a movie that’s actually based on an urban legend. And so, uh, it was a huge hit. It had some very big stars in it and, uh, spawned, uh, two or three sequels.

So, uh, here we are doing it. And yeah, so this is my second time watching this. And Craig, had you even heard of this before? 

Craig: You told me about it when you saw it. Okay. I, I just remember you tell- well, I just remember you saying it was interesting and you thought I’d like it and we should do it at some point, but that’s been a while ago.

Todd: Yeah. 

Craig: Um- Yeah … so when you recommended it, I, I remember that, that you had mentioned it before, but that’s it. That’s all I knew. I didn’t know anything about it. You said that it was Bollywood, and I have some expectations there. Mostly I kind of expect a musical number, and there is one. Right. And w- actually, there’s two really if you count-

the credit sequence, which you should, ’cause it’s great. 

Todd: Right. 

Craig: And, and that’s different. I mean, we’ll talk about it when we get there obviously, but you know, that’s something that I’ve come to expect from the Bollywood that I’ve been introduced to, so that was nice. But yeah, I didn’t really… I didn’t know anything else about it.

Todd: Yeah. 

Craig: I didn’t know that it was based on a legend. I, I had no idea even what type of movie it was going to be. You also, I think, mentioned that it was a horror comedy, so I was going in with that in mind, but that’s about it. 

Todd: Well, it’s worth mentioning that because we don’t do many of these movies, I’ve learned a lot about Indian movies fairly recently, and we often say Bollywood when we’re referring to Indian movies, but India’s a huge country, and it has many different regions, and a lot of people are producing movies in different areas.

Uh, I think that the Indian film industry might even be bigger than the Hollywood film industry, if you can believe that. Worldwide, they have a pretty big reach. Of course, they’re huge in India, and India’s a very populous place, and so there are film traditions in India that many of us in the West are, u- unless we’ve really sought this out and become fans of, of Indian cinema, we really don’t know a lot of this stuff.

Right. And so there are famous directors in India who are at least as famous as Steven Spielberg. This woman I date is 38 years old, and I mentioned Steven Spielberg to m- her, and she said, “Who’s that?” Mm. If that gives you any indication of just how separate those two worlds can be for us, you know? 

Craig: Yeah.

Todd: So but when we say Bollywood, we often mean Indian movies, but actually India produces films in lots of different languages. Hindi movies are tend, are Bollywood. There’s Telugu, which they call Tollywood. There are Tamil films, which is Kollywood. There’s a Malayalam, Kannada, Bengali

And many of India’s biggest, most recent blockbusters were not Bollywood films at all. Oh. They weren’t Hindi films. Yeah, they were from some of these other areas. So it’s really complex and really complicated. I, I couldn’t explain any of it to you ’cause I really don’t know much. But, uh, if you’re interested in Indian cinema, there is a ton to dive into, and, uh, I, I think it’s worth your while.

The stuff I’ve seen I’ve really enjoyed. They’re really good filmmakers. They’ve got tremendous actors, beautiful cinematography, and like you said, often music, and that’s what they’re most r- well known for. 

Craig: Yeah, and I don’t… Y- yeah, I didn’t know, uh, all of those different regions had their own version.

When, when I think Bollywood I g- like, I equate it with Hollywood. I, I mean, like- Right … big budget, like, you know, really well made, a- as I think that this movie is, or at least it appears that way. 

Todd: Oh, yeah. 

Craig: Uh, you know, it’s, it’s beautifully shot. It’s, it stars beautiful people. It, it seems really well made overall, so that…

I, I mean, I don’t know. I didn’t even really look into it. I assume that it, it’s… It seems like a big budget movie. Is it? 

Todd: Yeah. It’s, it’s a big budget movie, and, uh, and it has some big stars in it. The, the main star who plays Vicky in here is Rajkumar Rao, and he right now is one of Bollywood’s… considered one of its, their best actors.

And, uh, one thing that she explained to me is that unlike most Bollywood superstars, like Bollywood is a- actually a little like Hollywood in a way that, like, there’s dynasties there, and a lot of people become actors because their parents or their grandparents- Hmm … were in the industry, you know? 

Craig: Mm-hmm.

Todd: And most Bollywood superstars are like this way, and this is one of the very few guys who was able to build his reputation almost entirely on acting ability. 

Craig: Oh, nice. 

Todd: Uh, he didn’t have family connections or even what you’d consider conventional, like, leading man looks, although I think he looks pretty nice.

Craig: Yeah, he’s handsome. 

Todd: And he’s known for really, like, not always playing the same role, you know what I mean? A, a lot of, uh, actors get typecast into playing a certain kind of role, and he’s known for really just disappearing into the role that he’s in. He’s played a lot of different characters. So, uh, he’s kinda known to be, like, an actor first and a movie star second.

And, and he actually learned sewing for the movie. He spent, like, 20 days with a tailor to learn how to sew just to play this role as a, of a tailor in this film, so pretty committed dude. And then contrasting that, there’s a mysterious woman in here, and, uh, she is Bollywood royalty. Her name is Shraddha Kapoor.

And she’s the daughter of a veteran actor, Shakti Kapoor, and he’s famous for comic villains, over-the-top performances. He’s been in hundreds of films. But she, uh, has developed a reputation that’s almost the opposite: quiet and more girl-next-door roles. Her characters are more approachable, maybe a little more mysterious, not these over-the-type things that her dad is, is, is known for doing.

And so… And that’s makes her casting really perfect for this, actually, because that’s kinda who she is in the movie. You’re never quite sure who or, or what she is. So those are two of, you know, two of the main actors that I’ll just kinda point out right now, and there are a few others in here that I’ll point out as well that, that my friend, Dee, uh, had explained to me when, uh, when we were watching it, so.

Craig: Uh, yeah, you know, I, obviously I am not familiar with any of these actors, but both of those, the two, I guess, romantic leads, and there is kind of a little romantic comedy going on in this otherwise- Mm-hmm. Ki- I mean, it’s, it’s not an incredibly unique… I, I mean, it’s basically a full-core movie, you know, based on this legend of this vengeful female spirit called Stree that they have these traditions around yearly at, at this festival in their village.

I, I don’t remember if it’s a traditional religious festival, but Stree apparently comes every year at the same time during this festival, and so traditionally they paint some words all around town, or I guess on their doors or right outside their homes, that says, “Come back tomorrow,” or something like that.

Todd: Yeah. “Ostri.” Ostri, it may, basically means woman. Ostri, come tomorrow. 

Craig: Yeah. 

Todd: Yeah. 

Craig: And the legend is, yeah, the legend I guess is that if, if you don’t do that, she, like, steals men, I, I guess from their homes. She’s, she, like, lures them out. I mean, there’s a whole lore about her that we learn about it slowly over time.

I don’t know how slowly we want to reveal it on the podcast. Right. Right. We can- Um, but, like, I, I guess the whole thing is she will call a guy’s name three times, and she’s so alluring that by the third time they almost always turn around or always turn around or something, and then she takes them away, leaving behind only their clothes.

So- Yeah … you know, it, it’s a legend, and it’s a superstition, but people in the village adhere to the rules of the superstition. 

Todd: Yeah. And the cool thing is this is based on an actual urban legend that went viral in the ’90s in India, and it’s famous there. The, everybody knows it. It’s called Nalay Ba, and Nalay Ba literally means come tomorrow.

And w- in the ’90s, people genuinely painted Nalay Ba on the outside of their houses in some of these villages in certain regions in India where they were taking this seriously. Like, it went viral. I guess especially in Bangalore, they believe that the, a witch would be wandering through the neighborhood at night knocking on doors, and if you answered or you acknowledged her, she’d lure you outside and kill you.

And so the answer to this is almost bureaucratic, right? Y- y- you put “come tomorrow” on the door, so the witch would come, and, “Oh, okay, I’ll come tomorrow.” And then tomorrow the witch would come, and, “Oh, okay, I’ll come tomorrow.” Kind of like a, a cool looping joke. It’s funny And so the film changes it to Hindi, which is Ostri Kal Ana, which is O Woman, Come Tomorrow.

And that phrase apparently became like a pop culture phenomenon after this movie. Oh, 

Craig: that’s funny. 

Todd: But I guess the director said it, he’s not just adapting this particular le- Nale Ba legend. There are many regions in India that have a similar folklore of ghosts that call your name or spirits that- Yeah

imitate loved ones, women who lure men. You know, we even have, like, the vampire. Like, it’s the same thing, a ghost that can only enter when invited. You paint a protective symbol on your house. There’s lots of different regional traditions into one mythology here, and a lot of it crosses over, right, with stuff that we believe in the West as well with some of the, some of our Dracula legends- For sure

and myths and things. Yeah. But apparently, like I said, one of the very first Indian movies to do this, as opposed to corny, over-the-top haunted house movie or, or some kind of just ghostly revenge story. 

Craig: Well, I, I mean, there, there is. There is that ghostly revenge story, and that’s what I’m saying. Like, we’ve seen it before.

I, but I don’t want to make it sound like it’s y- just cut and paste something that we’ve seen before. It’s just- Right … we’ve seen this type of movie before. It’s not terribly unique in that regard. Then there’s also this little, you know, romantic interest between those two actors that you mentioned, both of them adorable.

I mean, you said that she kind of comes from a dynasty or whatever. I mean, even if she didn’t, I can only imagine that she could make it on her own ’cause she’s stunning. Like, she’s- Yeah. … stunningly- She really is … gorgeous. And, and, you know, a, a good actress, at least based on what she does here. And he’s, I think, very good-looking too.

There’s one part in the movie out of nowhere where she rips his shirt off literally for, like, one second. Like, she rips his shirt down- … and he pulls it back up so fast, like… I, I, I was like, “Why, why are you so quick to cover up?” Like, “Why are you- … why so modest?” But good-looking guy, and, and that’s cute and goofy, and it’s a comedy.

Like, there’s a whole lot of things going on here. But overall, I think the thing that I liked about it was that it… I don’t know. It’s charming. Like, the whole time that I was watching it, I kept thinking, “Oh, this is cute. It’s cute. It’s cute.” Yeah. Like, the guy, the, the main guy is cute. 

Todd: He’s so likable. 

Craig: Yeah, he’s super likable.

Like, he’s kind of a bumbling… I mean, he… I, I think he’s a good-looking guy, but he’s kind of like a bumbling every guy. He’s nervous around this girl. Comically nervous. This mysterious girl that he meets, and his friends are kind of lovable doofuses. Mm-hmm. I mean, flawed but ultimately funny, and, like, the three of them palling around together, all of that’s very cute.

Yeah. And then the ghost story I don’t know. Something that fascinates me about it too is just kind of the difference between this as an Indian film compared to American films, ’cause it’s just so different. Mm. Like, I, I feel like there’s not… Even our horror comedy, uh, I don’t know. There’s, there’s something different about the overall feel of it.

I mean, because even the ghost story part, I wouldn’t say it’s scary. It’s more like- Right Campfire tale kind of, I, I don’t know. There’s a- 

Todd: Yeah … 

Craig: I don’t know. Do you know what I’m saying, though? 

Todd: It’s PG. Yeah, I know what you mean. It, it’s very urban legend, and not in a way that is gonna… I don’t know. You’re right.

There are scary moments in here because the idea is scary, and it does take some people on the screen, but none of it’s graphic. And you’re right, the whole vibe is very campfire tale-ish, I guess you could say. 

Craig: You know? Yeah. I mean, it’s Haunted Mansion type stuff. Like- 

Todd: Hmm. 

Craig: Yeah … stuff that- 

Todd: Ghost stuff … 

Craig: yeah, for, I mean, would be appropriate for a PG or PG-13 audience, and that’s fine.

In fact, I think that contributes to the charm of it, and maybe that is in large… Maybe it was… See, the thing is, I don’t know if there, do they have hardcore horror movies in India? Is it, you know, you used to say when you lived in China that there were really strict rules about what could and couldn’t be shown in film.

I just don’t know culturally the difference. Like, if, it seemed like this was intentionally PG-13-ish, but I don’t know if that’s because it was also intended for a wide audience, because it was and had one, a huge one. Like you said that this has several sequels. I think that there’s only one direct sequel to this, but I think that this, like, is the Iron Man to their equivalent of, like, a Marvel universe over there, right?

Yeah. I think there’s this movie, and then there are two other supernatural movies that are tangentially related. Like, there may be a couple of crossover characters. And then ultimately, there’s a Stree 2 that is like the Avengers that brings… It’s like a buddy movie of all those creature movies, I think.

Todd: Yeah, no, you’re absolutely right. 

Craig: But my original point was I’m not sure if this is typical of Indian horror or if it’s l- on the lighter side because it was intended for a broader audience. And I suspect maybe the latter is true. I just don’t know. But either way, I think that you could easily watch this with your adolescent kids at least.

Todd: Oh, yeah. 

Craig: Yeah. And maybe even some younger kids, too. 

Todd: It’s true. And, and again, I’m not an expert in this, but I did do some research. And Stree is obviously pretty mild by horror standards. But India does have a long history of horror. For much of it, a little bit like China, like you referenced China, it, it leaned campy because of censorship and, and even, like, low budgets and, and I think also audience expectations factor into that as well But in the last 10 to 15 years, there has definitely been a wave of genuinely dark and disturbing horror movies.

I have a few on the list that I want us to get to. One of them that immediately comes to mind that was really popular more recently was Tumbbad. Have you heard of that one? 

Craig: I don’t think so. 

Todd: It’s another folk horror movie, and it’s supposed to be kind of like Pan’s Labyrinth or, or The Witch creepy. I don’t know if, you know, how bloody or whatever it is, but, but yeah, there’s a, there’s a number of Indian films, uh, that, that are definitely more hardcore than this.

But do they get as hardcore as, like, slasher Freddy type stuff? I, I, I don’t think so. I think they len- tend to lean more creepy and scary in that way Than flat out like, you know, gore fests, people torturing people kind of stuff. 

Craig: I think I’m just struggling to articulate the vibe of the movie because it’s pretty light.

Yeah. Like, and a lot of it happens in bright daylight in the day. The main character is Vicky. Like you said, he’s a tailor, his dad’s a tailor. It tries to establish, like, he has this conversation with his dad like, “Gosh, Dad, don’t try to define me. I haven’t decided what I’m gonna do yet.” And then he immediately goes to his job as a tailor where we learn that he’s, like, this virtuoso, like he’s the best tailor anybody’s ever seen.

Todd: Almost magical. 

Craig: Yeah. Yeah. He’s like, “It must…” They’re like, “It must be a gift from the gods.” Like he’s, he’s the best tailor. 

Todd: He can tell a person’s measurements just by looking at them. It’s so cute. I love how that scene lines up because you’re right, it goes immediately from him talking about how he wants to be this free spirit, and suddenly he’s sitting behind a machine going to town with a line of women in front of him, and just casually tossing out their measurements just by having them do a turn.

Craig: Yeah. 

Todd: Oh, 

Craig: gosh. It’s so 

Todd: cute. 

Craig: Also super hot. Like seeing, seeing this s- this hot guy, like, working his magic on the sewing machine, so hot. Like, if this, i- if this were an American film, he would either be gay or this would be super gay coded. But that was also- It’s true … but that was also something that was hot about it was that it was because, like, I felt like culturally him being a tailor was not a feminine thing at all.

Like, it was a really- Yeah … reputable thing for him to be, like, following in his dad’s professional tradition. Like, it was a cool thing too. Like, he was well re- like, he was respected in the, like, neighboring counties- Right … ’cause he was so talented. And to see him there, like, doing his thing, oh man, that was hot.

Todd: Now that, now that you mention it, I’m thinking about it and it’s like, you know, we kinda have the same thing in the West, right? Like, I’m trying to think every time a tailor is portrayed it’s almost always a man, right? But it’s usually some stodgy little person in the back room. You wouldn’t think of them as being like, you know, this is, like, a profession that- Or like an 

Craig: old guy with 

Todd: a thick 

Craig: accent.

Like- 

Todd: Yeah, and a tape ruler out all the time. Yeah. Right. Glasses. Maybe s- maybe slight British. Yeah, you’re right, this, this really, uh, is very different and it’s very appe- it, he makes it look cool. 

Craig: Yeah. 

Todd: He makes tailoring look- Awesome. 

Craig: Yeah, and there’s, like, there’s a pop song that plays over the whole first s- couple of scenes, and I think it’s called, like, I’m a, the Tailor of Your Heart or something.

And the- … the, a- at least the translated lyrics that I got were very pointed about how he’s the tailor of love or something. Mm-hmm. It was very cute. I’m very curious about the translations because sometimes I felt like the translations, like, the comedy didn’t translate, I felt like. Maybe. I watched it, you can get it on Amazon Prime, and I was watching it on Amazon Prime with their subtitles, and every once in a while the subtitles would just drop out for, like, a second.

Hmm. So somebody would say something and there would be no subtitle, and then it would come back and I wouldn’t know what they were talking about, but- 

Todd: Oh, no … 

Craig: no, I mean, it would, that was, like, one or two times. But, uh, I was curious about whether or not I was getting it the exact way I was supposed to be.

But nonetheless, he is approached by this beautiful girl, this mysterious girl. Again, like you said, it’s comical how he responds to her. Like, he just can barely even speak in her presence. And she asks him to make her a dress for the festival, and he says it’ll take, I don’t know, three weeks or something, and she’s like, “No, I need it faster than that.”

Mm-hmm. Um, and she acts like she’s offended and she’s gonna go away, and he says he’ll do it in two days. And then she totally hints that she wants to meet him later, and he’s not getting it at all. And so it’s very much like a, a meet cute and establishes 

Todd: His naivete. 

Craig: Yeah. But it, I mean, this is obviously gonna be the girl that he’s gonna be chasing after.

It’s gonna be that type of movie too, and it is- Mm-hmm … very much, at least for the next half hour, 45 minutes. It’s a long movie also. It’s over two hours. 

Todd: It is. Feels long too, for two hours. Yeah. And I think there were some criticisms that, that the movie maybe was a little too long when it came out by some of the critics, but, uh, I mean, it moves.

There’s always something happening, or there’s some byplay, or there’s some guys talking and it’s kind of funny or cute. I don’t feel like there’s a lot of wasted time in here, but some of it’s spent on, like, comedic purposes or something like that. He’s got these two goofy sidekicks, the comic relief people, right?

Jana and who’s the other one? 

Craig: B2 and Jana are his friends. 

Todd: Yeah, B2 and Jana. Yeah. And, and then the minute they’re introduced you’re like, “Oh, these are the comic relief.” And so, and he tells them about the girl, and they’re teasing him about the girl, and then they go to the f- they, there’s some music playing while they ride all three on their motorcycle.

Craig: That was hilarious. 

Todd: That was so funny. Through the… The- these guys are really, really good friends. They hang out a lot. 

Craig: It’s goofy. It’s like a goofy little buddy movie there for a second, and they do it a couple of times. Yeah. But just to see- It’s true … all three of them on one motorcycle is funny. 

Todd: Yeah. And I like how the movie really did kinda keep it tight.

I mean, there’s a lot of people in this movie, like there are a lot of extras, and there are a few people who kinda come and go. But at its core, it’s really just about, like, four or five people- 

Craig: Yeah … 

Todd: which I really appreciated. And then this festival begins. It’s like a four-day festival, and it looks beautiful.

I, I mean, it’s nighttime- Oh my gosh … and there’s lights everywhere. Yeah. And he meets this girl again, and, uh, uh, she’s like, “Is the dress re-” No, she wanted the dress on the last night of the festival. 

Craig: Yeah. 

Todd: They had planned to meet up for some reason here, and she asks him how it’s going, and he’s just, like, stuttering.

The guy can’t even barely get a sentence out the, when he’s talking to her, and she’s like, “Are you all right?” I mean, it’s just It’s super cute. And now is this the moment at which she asks him for a list of things? 

Craig: He, well, he asks for her phone number and she says she doesn’t have a phone, and he’s like, “Well, how do I get in contact with you if I wanna talk to you?”

And she’s like, “Just think of me.” So- … it seems like there is something going on, and she, she gives him a note and said, “But don’t open it until tomorrow.” Mm. And that’s when Bitu and Jana are walking home, and they run into some guy. I kept calling him the expert because he keeps touting himself as the expert on Stree.

Todd: Rudra. 

Craig: Okay. He tells them there are three rules, and I’m paraphrasing them briefly. He kind of goes on for a while. But the first rule is, don’t go out of the house alone, and this applies to men, ’cause it’s men that she goes after. He says, yeah, number two, travel in packs like wolves. Don’t go out by yourself if you have to go out.

N- and number three, when she calls, she’ll call your name once. When she calls your name the first time, take off your shoes and keep walking. Don’t turn around. When she calls your name the second time, keep walking. Don’t turn around. And then he says, “And then the third time,” and the guys are like, “Just keep walking.”

And he’s like, “Nope, nobody can keep walking the third time. Everybody gives in by the third time.” Um, so, so basically you can’t win. He says, “But for some reason, if you do,” number four… He said there were three rules, and then he’s like, “Number four-” The 

Todd: most important 

Craig: thing. The most important thing And then he, like, gets a phone call or something and leaves.

Todd: I 

Craig: laughed out loud. And, and they, and the… Me too, and the movie plays that gag at least one or two more times. Like- … there’s other times when he’s telling people, “And most importantly,” and then he gets interrupted again. It’s funny. I don’t think we ever find out what the most important one is. 

Todd: I feel like this guy steals every scene he’s in.

He, he’s played by Pankaj Tripathi, and he is, uh, one of India’s biggest, most well-known character actors, and he is literally famous for making exposition entertaining. So he is often cast in these roles where his main job is really just to explain things that are essential to the plot, and, uh, that’s really what his role is in this movie too.

Craig: Pretty funny. 

Todd: Yeah, I think he’s pretty funny. He’s kinda like the J.K. Simmons, you could say, of, of Indian cinema and, uh, and I love that old joke of, “And the most important thing… Oh, wait. Oh, sorry, gotta go. See ya.” And leaves, leaves these two guys in the dark, in the woods where he told them they should not be.

And that’s the cool thing about this, this plot too, I think, is it’s, it’s a total reversal of the typical male/female roles in horror movies. You know, usually it’s women who are in danger and in trouble. 

Craig: Right. 

Todd: A- a- and here it’s the men who have to watch out and who are, who are in trouble. And, and in Indian culture too, you know, it’s, it’s really still very traditional where women are not supposed to be walking out alone, particularly at night, and you know, it is legitimately dangerous in some places too for, for women to be walking- Mm-hmm

alone at night and things. And so now this kinda flips it over, and the filmmakers did that on purpose, of course. They, they thought it would be interesting just to get men a little bit of that experience. Freaks these guys out, of course, so they walk around and, and of course they hear sounds and think they hear them, and, and they end up running off, and they end up running right to a party so conveniently.

Craig: Yeah. 

Todd: And then we get the big Bollywood musical number of the movie, don’t we? 

Craig: Yeah, which is great. 

Todd: I loved it. 

Craig: I loved it. I thought it was fantastic. I thought the song was super fun. I would listen to it. And I, you know, I don’t know how these things work, but if all of those people who were singing, if that was their real voices, like including, like, the main people.

Like- Uh-huh … the main guy and his two doofy friends all sing, and they all have good voices. Like- Mm … everybody is, everybody’s a pop star. The girl, I mean, the, the main girl who’s, like, performing at this party, everybody joins in, but it starts out as, like, this girl’s performing at this party. Uh, I don’t think that she is a character in the movie.

No. I wondered if she was maybe Britney Spears in India or something. I didn’t- Yeah. But she’s very beautiful. 

Todd: I wondered if she was someone famous too. I have no idea. 

Craig: No idea, but she’s great. It’s very entertaining. I liked it a lot. And then near the end of it, Vicky, the main guy, goes outside to pee and intentionally pees on the street invitation, and immediately all the lights go out.

This was kind of a funny scene that I think maybe I looked away for a second when the lights went out, ’cause when I looked back, all the lights were out and the music was off, but they were all still dancing. Uh- 

Todd: Yes. They gotta finish the number first. 

Craig: That was funny. 

Todd: Yeah, but he pees on the sign and it alters the words on the signs.

The words. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So instead of s- O Street Come Tomorrow, it just says O Street Come 

Craig: Oh, I didn’t know that 

Todd: Yeah, so that’s, that’s all his fault. Uh, so yeah, there’s darkness and there’s some bedlam in there, and then we get kind of our f- first, uh, scary, scary moment of the movie where- 

Craig: Yes. Well, yeah, there’s a big scary knock at the door.

When they finally answer the door, it’s just a woman, and it turns out she’s a prostitute- 

Todd: Mm-hmm … 

Craig: who is there for one of the other guys. But here again is another moment where everything was so coded. Like, it seemed like they were intentionally trying to muddy the waters. 

Todd: Mm-hmm. 

Craig: Uh, it, it was like because she was just there for friendship, to be paid for her friendship, and it was obvious what was happening, but the innuendo was- 

Todd: Thick

Craig: yeah. It was really weird. And, like, I just don’t know about… I didn’t watch the version that you provided me access to. I, I watched it on Prime. So I don’t know if you and I saw the exact same thing, but I was just really interested in different, like, Indian norms when it comes to film. Because this only comes to mind because of that.

I didn’t know if that was for censorship issues, but throughout the movie, any time anybody smokes, there was a little message down in the bottom corner of my screen that said, “Smoking kills.” Was that in yours? 

Todd: Uh, no. That might be your Amazon thing. Again, I 

Craig: didn’t know if that was- That’s interesting … I didn’t know if that was an Indian thing.

I, I… Surely it’s, maybe it’s an Amazon thing. Maybe. I don’t think so, but every time anybody was seen smoking a cigarette, whether it was in the background or a main character, ’cause Vicky smokes, any time in the very bottom there was a little tiny note that said, “Smoking kills.”

Todd: We’re gonna put it in the movie, but we’re also gonna warn you about it. 

Craig: The innuendo to me reminds me, it’s almost like John Hughes- teen- 

Todd: Hmm … 

Craig: kind of innuendo. I mean, John Hughes in, like, Pretty in Pink m- may have gone even, uh, I don’t know, any of those, there was some maybe even more crude innuendo than it is here.

But it kind of reminds me of that. Okay, so- Well, ’cause- Another example is, is… Go ahead. 

Todd: Oh, I was gonna say because it’s also kind of played for laughs too, right? I mean, the innuendo itself is kind of a joke. 

Craig: Yeah. 

Todd: They’re, they’re also really playing up Vicky’s naivete, I would say, and inexperience with women supposedly, right?

They’re- 

Craig: Yeah … they’re, 

Todd: they’re poking at it with this innuendo, I think. 

Craig: Well, right, okay, ’cause the hooker shows up, noth- we don’t see anything, nothing happens. But Stree is also there, and ultimately pulls the guy who had brought the hooker there, pulls him out of a window. Nobody sees it happen, but they presume that’s what happens because his clothes are left behind.

The next morning, the prostitute comes to Vicky’s house- … demanding money because she thinks it’s his fault, because everybody blames him for… They figure out that he’s the one that peed on the message and that’s, it’s his fault that that guy is gone. So she demands the money. The dad, because the, this prostitute is kind of causing a scene in the street, Vicky’s dad comes out and pays her off.

But then the dad feels like he has to have a sex talk with Vicky. This is another example of that that just feels weird to me. 

Todd: Uh-huh. 

Craig: Because Vicky is at l- least in his early 20s, at least. Yeah. 

Todd: Uh-huh. 

Craig: And this seems like a talk that you should maybe, I mean, if you’re going to have this talk at all, maybe be having with, like, a 15-year-old.

Todd: I think- I don’t know … it’s a comedy. I, because of course dad here thinks he’s paying off this prostitute that Vicky- 

Craig: Right, he- … 

Todd: may have had. Yeah. That’s the joke. And so he’s gotta come in and give him this birds and the bees talks. And I feel like the tone is that Vicky is just sort of humoring him. Like, he doesn’t need this talk, but he’s humoring his dad.

Is that the feeling you got? 

Craig: I, yeah, I, yeah, I think so. 

Todd: Yeah. That his dad’s just kinda silly because he’s, doesn’t need this. But yeah, so he gets his little birds and the bees discussion, but again, this is thematically significant for later And so I liked that it was in there. I, I really liked how everything kinda tied together.

I think every setup in this movie pays off, and I don’t think there’s a lot of extraneous stuff in here. Every scene, you know, that you’re wondering, “Well, why is that there?” Or, “Maybe this is just there for humor,” or something like that, ends up having a little bit of a payoff or reference later. And, and this is one of them, I think.

Craig: Right after this, they open the letter that the mysterious girl gave Vicky and told him to open the next day. And there’s comedy about, you know, he’s reading into it that she’s totally into him. But really, it’s very obvious that she asks him for a list of totally random things that could only be ingredients for a spell or a potion.

Todd: Yeah. 

Craig: Like, there’s no other expl- I don’t remember what all it was, but it was random stuff. It’s 

Todd: hilarious stuff. Yeah, like, I- it would be like the equivalent of like eye of newt and, you know- Yeah … one of them’s like the hair of a white cat or something like that. Uh-huh. It’s just, it’s so funny. And again, that’s the comedy here, is that he hasn’t, he doesn’t seem to get that.

And we, of course, by now are figuring, “Oh, this woman’s a strea. The strea in disguise doing something.” I mean, she’s some kinda witch. You know? Who knows what her, her plan is, but we’re wondering if she’s really good, and this is just further confirmation of that. And her friends kinda catch into it a little bit, too, don’t they?

They say a couple things, but he just kinda brushes it off. 

Craig: R- well, kind of. I mean, yeah, th- B2 especially thinks that she’s either tied to Sri or is Sri. 

Todd: Mm-hmm. 

Craig: And 

Todd: it 

Craig: does make him suspicious too. It makes Vicki a little suspicious, especially when she takes him to the woods. 

Todd: Yeah. Second night. 

Craig: Yeah, he gets over it pretty quickly when she says something about the dress, and he was like, “Oh, I should have measured you in the shop.”

And sh- she’s like, “I thought you did.” And he’s like, “Yeah, but I messed it up or something.” Yeah. He is either a really good player or he really bumbles into this because- … she’s like, “Well, take my measurements now.” And he’s like, “Well, I don’t have my tape measure.” And she’s like, “You don’t need it, do you?” And he’s like, “No, I don’t need it.

Do you mind?” And then he takes her measurements with his hands, and it’s one of the most erotic things I’ve ever seen. 

Todd: It really is. By the fire out in the woods. Oh my God. It’s so great. And, you know, he doesn’t wanna believe that she’s a witch. You’re right, like by now he’s nervous. This, it’s n- he’s not stupid.

The idea’s been planted in his head. This mysterious woman keeps popping in and out. His friends point out that these are spell ingredients or whatever, but he’s still like, the level of enthusiasm, I mean, I can’t blame him. I’d, I’d kinda like to believe that it’s all just a big coincidence, she’s just an odd bird.

‘Cause then after this, what, she sorta disappears, right? Seems to just vanish. He leans out to kiss her, closes his eyes or something like that, and then opens them and she’s gone and the, the fire’s out and things are creepy for a moment. But he does meet her another time, and he’s brought her the things.

Did I get things mixed up? 

Craig: No, I don’t remember. I was just… I lost my place in my notes. 

Todd: Or was that when he met… Maybe that’s when he, he brought her the things. ‘Cause he’s got like, “I got, I got the hair, but I, I don’t know i- Yeah, yeah … you know, what shade of white, so I got you a whole bunch of different colors.”

Craig: I think so. I think it’s after this that Bitu and Jana are in town and they split up for some reason. 

Todd: Yeah. 

Craig: And Sri gets Jana. 

Todd: Yeah. 

Craig: And, you know, like this scene and others are reasonably suspenseful. It’s shot in a really cool location in this village with these narrow streets with kind of tall stone buildings.

And when all the lights go out and he’s kinda being pursued by this phantom thing, it’s just kind of a shrouded figure that I feel like here it still almost looks corporeal. As the movie progresses it looks more like a floating ghost- 

Todd: Yeah … 

Craig: type thing. But I mean, it’s following around, and I think ultimately it gets him, right?

And he gets dragged away, and only his, uh, clothes are left behind. 

Todd: Yeah, I was shocked. 

Craig: Yeah, ’cause this guy, you know, was one of the main three guys, but- 

Todd: Yeah, and he’s just kind of a lovable goof. You didn’t expect him to get taken, so that’s a surprise. So now the town’s up in arms by this point. Rudra, the librarian, has organized a group of people.

He’s giving pep talks, I think, on the streets. Th- there’s people complaining about their husbands going missing. The, what’s his name? Jana’s mom is crying and stuff. And Vicky goes to the roof to meet the woman, and there’s a moment where he has, I don’t know, was it a vision? Was it an actual encounter? 

Craig: I d- 

Todd: He thinks he sees Stree.

This, this ghost does seem to show up behind him. 

Craig: It’s a fake-out. 

Todd: Yeah? 

Craig: I don’t know. 

Todd: I think so. He thinks… I mean, the movie’s obviously leading us, again, to question this woman, because he cl- closes his eyes and screams, and when he opens them, you, the woman’s basically shaking him, the mysterious woman. “Hey, hey, are you okay?

Are you okay?” Now, now she’s there suddenly, right when he thought he saw the Stree. Oh, that’s suspicious for us, but- 

Craig: Yeah, and then he asks her specifically about the Stree, and she doesn’t answer, and then she disappears. 

Todd: Yeah. 

Craig: Like, he looks away for a minute, or he, like, goes to check on a bum or something, I don’t know, and when he looks back she is gone.

Todd: It seems like confirmation for us, and for him. 

Craig: I guess. Well, he and the boys, if they… They need to learn more about Stree, I guess, so they go back to that expert guy, and he gives more exposition. So she was a woman who fell in love with somebody, but for some reason the townspeople didn’t want them to get married, so they killed them both.

And Stree then has been wandering the streets looking for a man so that she can fill out her destiny of getting married or something, I don’t know. And he says, and they’re like, they’re reading in a book, and they’re like, “And the way to defeat her is…” And he turns the page, and then he starts reading something else that doesn’t make any sense.

And they’re like, “Wait a second.” The pages are turn- are torn out. So another one, hilarious. “And the way to defeat her is,” turn the page. It’s, damn it. Oh, my God. Oh, God. Funny. Yeah. But luckily Vicky sees an illustration of place in the book that he recognizes, so they go there. 

Todd: Yeah, it’s like an old fort or something, yeah?

Craig: I guess. 

Todd: Uh. 

Craig: That they’ve never noticed before, even though it’s in their town? I don’t, I don’t know. 

Todd: Yeah. They’ve never visited it at night when it, when it counted. During the festival, you know. Don’t forget, it’s all, you know, during the festival that all this activity’s going on, so they seem to think that’s the place to go to find her.

So they go there as a group, and scary stuff happens. Then, then the, the mysterious woman shows up, and that’s when we learn that she’s not the Stree 

Craig: Right. Okay. ‘Cause the Stri is, okay, it scares the two, the one friend who’s left. Janna comes back at some point, but he’s, like, mind-controlled by her, by Stri at least some of the time.

He’s, like, feral. Yeah, he’s like- Yeah … a feral zombie some of the times. Some of the times they just have him tied up and he’s just himself, but sometimes he’s crazy, I guess. But the other two guys get scared out, so it’s just Vicky in there, and the Stri comes to him, and I- he turns around, but she doesn’t kill him.

In fact, they almost have kind of like a moment. 

Todd: Yeah. 

Craig: And, like, gaze into each other’s eyes or whatever, and that’s when the mysterious girl shows up and, I don’t know, throws ash on her or something. And we find out then that this girl, her whole mission in life is to defeat the Stri because the Stri killed her something.

That was one of the places where the subtitles dropped out and I didn’t know what happened. 

Todd: Hmm. 

Craig: Do you know what happened? 

Todd: She’s the Van Helsing of this story, isn’t she? She’s like the- Yes … Stri hunter. 

Craig: But did you… Who was it? Who, who, who is she avenging? Do you know? 

Todd: Oh, God. I, yeah, I don’t remember. I’m sorry.

I do not. 

Craig: Whatever. It doesn’t matter. Who cares? She’s avenging somebody, and that’s her whole purpose. That’s why she’s been coming back every three years or something. She only comes back during the festival. Oh, that’s when they find Janna and they take him back home. But in the middle of the night, he gets out of bed and all the lights in the city go out, and when they wake up the next morning, all the guys are gone.

Or not all of them, but a lot of guys. Mm. And, like, women are howling in the streets ’cause their husbands are gone and stuff, and it’s because someone erased the messages on, on the walls. 

Todd: Yeah. 

Craig: And it was Janna, so he’s, you know, possessed by her or something now. The remaining men set up a reward. They will give a certain amount of money for every missing man returned.

So Vicky and, and- … the expert and I guess B2 and myst- mysterious girl need to figure more out, so the pages from that book are gone, so they have to find the author of the book 

Todd: Who’s conveniently nearby. And, 

Craig: and yeah, he’s a weird hermit who lives next door. 

Todd: Right.

Craig: And they go to him- Oh … and he gives them a whole story about only one man can douse the fire, and he’s gotta be all of these different things. I don’t remember. Like, there’s a whole litany of things he has to be. And the last of them is that he’s a cour- uh, he’s an artist, and he’s a prince, and he’s, I don’t know, all these things, but he’s a courtesan’s son who is also a bachelor.

Todd: Mm-hmm. 

Craig: And they immediately figure out that Vicky meets all of the criteria, except he’s like, “Yeah, but I’m not a courtesan’s son, so sorry.” And they’re like, “Oh, wait, yes you are. Everybody knows except for you.”

Todd: This is the best. 

Craig: Oh, 

Todd: man. 

Craig: Oh, yeah- So funny … your mom, by the way, your mom was a whore. Everybody knows except for you. You, 

Todd: you didn’t know? You didn’t re- oh, God, everybody knows. Then he goes to his father, and his father’s like, “Yeah.” Yeah. And, and this is why I said the earlier sex talk kinda comes back around because he’s gotta talk to his father about sex now, and turns out his father’s not the innocent, sweet little man that, that he came across as when he was bumbling through a dumb sex talk.

Yeah. 

Craig: It was so funny to me, and he says something really rude to his dad. I don’t remember what it was, but something rude. But the very next morning he wakes up and he apologizes, and he says he’s sorry, and he goes and he talks to Mystery Girl, and he’s like, “You know what? I’m over it. It’s fine. Who cares?”

Todd: Right. That was fast.

I mean, when the whole town’s known forever, uh, you, you can only be in denial for so long. 

Craig: He’s like, “My dad’s still a good guy, so whatever. Who cares?” Um, which I thought was funny. I, I, I just, I, I mean, I mean, nobody wants to hear something disparaging about their mom, I guess, but I just thought maybe that was kind of a cultural thing, too.

I kinda feel like in America we’d be like, “Eh, so what? Who cares?” 

Todd: Right. 

Craig: Right. So mom got around when she was younger, who cares? Like Yeah. Uh, but anyway, yeah, okay. So the expert tells Vicky that he’s the prince, and Vicky’s like, “Okay, fine, I am, I guess. I’ll save the town, whatever.” So to, to save the town you have to give her her wedding night, which he’s very nervous about because he thinks that that entails sleeping with her, which maybe it does.

But My- Mystery Girl assures him, she’s like, “Don’t worry about it because even though she’s really strong on her own turf, if we can lure her somewhere else, I know how to beat her.” She’s very vague. Like, she never says what she’s going to do. She just- No … keeps being… She’s just very reassuring, like, “It’s going to be fine.

I know what to do. Don’t worry about it.” 

Todd: Right. 

Craig: So they set up a whole wedding, I guess in his apartment or something- Uh-huh … and write instructions for Sri on the walls, like, “Come to this particular place.” 

Todd: There are arrows. 

Craig: Yeah. I 

Todd: love this bit. 

Craig: And they get him all dressed up, and he looks very handsome in his wedding outfit, and, uh, Sri follows the directions.

Friend Jana is freaking out and distracts the rest of them so that Vicky is all alone, and Sri calls to him, and then when the other friends go looking for him, he’s gone. But he shares his location on his phone, which I thought was gonna be a trick. Like, I thought that was, like, Sri tricking them. But no, it wasn’t.

It was just he got abducted by Sri, and now he’s in a cave where he’s prepared to her, I guess, if that’s what- Yes. 

Todd: That seems like it, right? He understands what she needs. I mean, essentially the idea is that, you know, the town disrespected her somehow, and so she needs to get her love and respect back, and gets that by finally getting that marriage or that union that she was denied because the town killed her and her 

Craig: husband.

Well, yeah, and I mean, I, you know, I was just very crude a moment ago, but it’s actually pretty wholesome. Like, it seems like that’s what he thinks. Like, he thinks that she wants to consummate it, so he strips down to his boxers and, uh… But it, that’s not what she, like, she’s not interested, and he puts his clothes back on, and they actually have another moment where it seems like he can kind of s- see her for who she is or was.

I mean, she still looks kind of ghostly, but she’s not as horrific as she appears to other people. And again, they kind of have another moment before Mystery Girl shows up again and disables her again pretty much in the same way, by throwing ash on her. 

Todd: Mm-hmm. 

Craig: She’s disabled. The girl is like, “Here, Vicky, you have to take this knife and you have to kill her.”

But he doesn’t want to because he feels like she has been unfairly judged and she was wronged in the first place. 

Todd: We’re just making it worse. 

Craig: Yeah. Yeah, and there should be some other way And that’s when she wakes up. This part was, I hope, intentionally hilarious because she wakes up and she’s the, the ghost, and she’s just flying around just shrieking incessantly.

And then she flies up right in Vicky’s face and is just right in front of his face just shrieking. And Vicky and Mystery Girl are, like, having a conversation, like, “What are we… What should we do?” Mm-hmm. And she’s like, “You have to look lovingly into her eyes,” and so he’s kind of fake. It’s really funny. 

Todd: Yeah.

Craig: It’s stupid- 

Todd: Uh-huh … 

Craig: but it’s kind of hilarious. And eventually he just screams at her and tells her to shut up, which works for a second. 

Todd: Yeah. 

Craig: But Mystery Girl says, “Okay, well, if you don’t wanna kill her, I guess we have to cut off her braid, and that will deprive her of her power.” 

Todd: It’s like a Samson thing.

Craig: “Okay, I, I guess, if you say so.” 

Todd: I feel like this Mystery Girl wants… Ultimately, she has ulterior motives here, and we kinda see that, I think, a little bit at the end. But, um- 

Craig: Yeah, but we don’t know that at this point, and, 

Todd: and- No, so that’s why this is weird, right? 

Craig: Right. 

Todd: But I think it makes sense later. Now, it, I don’t think this was her ultimate plan, but when she realizes that Vicky’s the only one who can off Stree, Mystery Girl’s gotta convince Vicky to go to, you know, plan B.

He’s like, “Okay, that’s acceptable,” and he cuts it off, and Stree disappears. 

Craig: And, and she, Mystery Girl, grabs it and, and puts it in her coat or something. And they go out together, and they’re talking, and I, I think Vicky says, “She’s not dead.” Mm-hmm. “We’ve taken away her power, but she’ll probably still c- she’s still around, and she’ll still come back next year.

But all she wants is love and respect, so maybe if we flip the script and, you know, show her the respect she deserves, then she won’t-” hurt people or something. I don’t know. But anyway, all of the men that she, s- Stree had previously taken come out of her temple or whatever it is. 

Todd: Yeah, that’s what keeps this movie light.

Craig: Yeah, ev- everybody’s fine. Everybody’s fine. 

Todd: Mm-hmm. 

Craig: And Vicky and his friends get the reward, I think, for bringing all those folks back. And mystery girl is leaving, like she’s just waiting at the bus wearing the dress he made, and there’s cute- 

Todd: Goodbye stuff … 

Craig: goodbye between them. And I mean, it is cute. I mean, it’s, it’s innocent and sweet, and she leaves and he realizes he doesn’t even know her name.

And I think I thought that that was the end. It seemed… Was that the part where it seemed like the end? I don’t know. 

Todd: Felt like this would be the end, yeah. 

Craig: But then we cut back to her on the bus. 

Todd: Yep. A- and she pulls out Stree’s braid. 

Craig: Uh-huh. 

Todd: There’s something overlay. I can’t remember exactly what’s said kind of in the voiceover, but she, I believe, attaches Stree’s braid to her own, right?

Craig: Yeah, and she says, I’m pretty sure she says, and when I say she says, this, like you said, it’s in voiceover, but it’s her. It’s, it’s, it’s her voice. I think she says that she would have done it much sooner if she could have, but the protector of the city had to do it. 

Todd: Hmm. 

Craig: And then she disappears from the bus.

So it’s like she never really leaves town. I don’t really understand what’s happening. Now, okay, now it also seems like the movie is over, but then it comes back and it says one year later, and we get Stree point of view coming towards the village. And outside there is a statue of Stree, and there’s a sign next to it, but instead of saying, “Stree, come back tomorrow,” or whatever, it says, “Oh, Stree, protect us.”

And that’s the end Now I like that. I kinda like that turning it on its head and, and respecting her and making her a protector of the town. I like that. Mm-hmm. 

Todd: Me too. 

Craig: But I’m not really sure I understand what’s going on with the girl, the mystery girl. 

Todd: I, I feel like the mystery girl is trying to get her power.

Craig: So is the mystery girl a separate thing that just wants the Stree’s power? 

Todd: Yeah, I think she not only wants Stree disabled, but she wants her power too. And so when she got the braid… I mean, I think that was also what might have been behind a lot of the hoodoo stuff that she wanted the guy to get for her.

Craig: Okay. 

Todd: Yeah. Um, because, you know, that doesn’t ever get quite explained either. But I feel like, I feel like this is setting it up for a sequel, and I don’t know the contents of the sequel. 

Craig: It’s weird. I, I read a little bit about it, but I intentionally avoided spoilers ’cause I, I, I might actually be interested in seeing it.

But like I said, I think that there are two other kind of separate but sort of… Like, I know in the next one chronologically, the one that came out next, Jana is in it. Mm. He’s a side character. He’s connected to the new main characters, and I think it’s maybe a werewolf movie. I don’t know about the, much about the third one, but then I read that in the fourth one, which is Stree 2, which just came out in, like, 2023 or something like that, it kinda joins forces.

And I did read a little bit about how, like, there’s a new, in the village, this same village, there’s a new threat, but it’s a male threat and it’s, like, a patriarchal kind of thing. Hmm. And so the village has to, I think, call on Stree to protect them and help fight it. And then I read that it expands on the lore and makes Sri’s origins broader than just a local thing.

Like, it’s tied to, again, they’re trying to kind of, I think, expand this Marvel-esque universe of these movies, so it’s, it’s kind of expanding the lore to make it all connected or whatever, which is cool. And I think that they’re, it, it sounds like they’re popular, and I liked this one. It was different. 

Todd: Yeah.

Craig: It’s difficult to compare to anything American, you know? The, the stuff that we usually watch. I so enjoyed that musical number, and I typically do, the few that I’ve seen, these, these big budget Indian films when there is a musical number, and they just are kind of, not entirely out of context, but- 

Todd: Yeah

Craig: they don’t necessarily contribute anything to the plot or, you know, they’re- 

Todd: Right … 

Craig: they’re just there for entertainment value, and I like that, but there really is no American equivalent. Like- 

Todd: I … 

Craig: we don’t have that. 

Todd: I liken it, in a way, to your typical Hollywood musical, where people just burst into song and everyone is now a dancer, and the whole town gets together and everyone’s dancing in cue, in synchronization, except- Right, 

Craig: but the movie is otherwise not a musical.

Todd: Yeah. Yeah, except in Hollywood movies, those songs are used to advance the plot. 

Craig: Usually, right. 

Todd: Whereas all of my experience, yeah, usually, whereas all my experience with the Bollywood films is these songs are, you know, thematically related to what’s happening in the movie But it’s not like at the end of the m- of the song something has happened.

This is just like a big song and dance number, and it’s a song about love. Or, you know, a song about whatever, and it stands on its own, and if you were to pluck it out, the movie would still be totally comprehensible. 

Craig: Yeah. I enjoy it. I, I think it’s super fun. Oh, yeah. It’s, it’s bright and colorful and a lot to look at, and fun choreography.

And like I said, you know, the, this, the song was a lot of fun. I, it’s a song that I would listen to. And, and then there’s another one over the credits too- Yeah. … which, uh, unfort- yeah, Amazon insisted on… I, I couldn’t stop it from skipping over. 

Todd: Oh, God. Are you serious? 

Craig: Yeah, I was mad. 

Todd: Oh, boy. That was a good song.

Craig: I didn’t get to see the whole thing, but, you know, it just looked like goofy fun, like the cast in fun costumes doing fun stuff, and it was produced. And I don’t know, I, I enjoy that kind of thing. I, I, I can imagine that there are people who would find it, for lack of a better word, so foreign just because it’s so different than American cinema that some people might not get it or, or potentially might even find it off-putting.

I, I don’t at all. 

Todd: No. 

Craig: But, but they’re… It’s difficult to compare to an American film. I can’t say, “If you liked this American film, you’ll like this,” ’cause it’s, it’s just so different. 

Todd: But I mean, ultimately it’s not that weird. I mean, y- y- you think- No, 

Craig: it’s not weird. It’s just different … 

Todd: you could think of it like suddenly a music video is stuck in the middle of the movie, you know, in a way- Yeah

is kinda how it is. Like if you were watching Nightmare on Elm Street Part 3: Dream Warriors, and at some point during the, you know, sequence where they’re going into hell and trying to find Freddy, the Dokkan Dream Warriors music video pops in. Sure. And that plays out, and then it cuts back to the plot- The movie

and continues along. It’s, it’s fun. It’s… I love it. And I was actually kind of sad there weren’t more musical numbers in this movie. I mean, there are other songs, but they’re playing as part of a montage or something or like a small portion of it over something else. And typically, these Bollywood movies, which by the way, they can be three, three and a half hours long.

They’re, they’re usually pretty long because of all the music that’s stuck in there. 

Craig: Mm. 

Todd: In this case, it’s shorter just because they only have one of them. I wouldn’t have minded seeing two or three more, but again, it would’ve, it would’ve put the running time even longer than it already is, so. You gotta have the patience for that, yeah.

Craig: True. I al- uh, again, I’m trying to kinda think of, uh, comparisons to American things. I think if this were an American film, the m- the main cast would’ve been teenagers. 

Todd: Yeah. 

Craig: Here they’re, I guess, 20-somethings or maybe even older 20-somethings. They look like adults. I feel like in America these would’ve been kids or at least 30-somethings playing kids.

Uh- 

Todd: Right. That’s what I was gonna say. This one’s more honest. 

Craig: It, it does, yeah. I don’t know. It feels a little more kinda like an American high school plot, but whatever. I recommend it. I think it’s fun. I, I never would’ve seen… It, y- it’s subtitles and they speak really fast. So Yeah. You’re gonna read quickly.

You are going to read. Uh, so be ready. Get your glasses. I had, I had to put up my glasses for this one. But, uh, it’s worth it. It was cute. Uh, I enjoyed it. Alan walked by as I was about halfway into it and he said, “How is it?” And I said, “Ugh, it’s long.” And he said, “Well, the fact that you said that tells me you’re enjoying it, you just wish it wasn’t so long.”

Mm. ‘Cause I wasn’t really complaining about it, and that’s true. It is a little bit long for my liking. I, I feel like it could’ve been trimmed. 

Todd: I agree. I agree 100%. 

Craig: But it’s well made and the characters are likable and it’s, it’s got- Charming … charm. 

Todd: Yeah. 

Craig: Yeah. It’s, it’s a charming movie. And, and you could, I mean, if you’ve got kids who…

I, I, it’s, it’s, it’s more fun than anything else. It’s more of a spooky Halloween vibe than a ax murderer gory kinda vibe. 

Todd: Oh, 100%, yeah. Uh, y- you’re right. It’s a Halloween ghost vibe-wise than, uh, than, you know, some kind of, like, really- 

Craig: Nasty. It’s not nasty at 

Todd: all. Yeah. It’s not nasty. It’s not gross. I, I loved it too, and I thought that our listeners would enjoy it as well.

It’s fun to bring a movie like this that maybe not a lot of our listeners would, would have seen, although we do have some Indian listeners and, and you know, we, some of them have in the past really chatted with us a lot online and, uh, recommended some Indian movies for us, I believe. And, you know, that’s a good time for me to say if you are familiar with, uh, Bollywood horror or any other Indian horror films that you think we should watch, drop us a line.

I mean, thank you for listening to this. If you enjoyed this podcast, please share it with a friend and let us know in the comments on any of our places. You know, just search Two Guys and a Chainsaw Podcast, what other Indian horror movies we should see because this is a fun one. And I would be interested in seeing some more, some of the more modern ones that are taking a darker route as well and seeing, uh, the difference between them.

The- these movies are very well made. Indian cinema I have a lot of respect for and, you know, I ha- I haven’t seen a lot of it but what I have seen has always been high quality so- 

Craig: Oh, yeah 

Todd: Oh, except for that shopping mall movie we saw. That was a bit of a low budget clunker but, uh- 

Craig: I liked 

Todd: it It was still kind of fun

Oh, dude, I told Dee about that movie and, uh, she was like, “What? What is that? I have never heard of it before.” And she looked it up and she’s like, “Oh my God,” like, “You had to pick the lamest, most out of left field low budget Indian direct-to-video probably movie to review as your first Indian movie?” I said, “Hey, I didn’t know.

I was just looking for a, a horror movie that took place during Christmas,” and this was on a list somewhere. 

Craig: And it was in a mall, right? I always like a movie in a mall. 

Todd: Yeah, it was in a shopping mall. It had a fun twist and stuff. I’d have to go back and listen to that episode but I remember doing research on that and part of what was in- interesting about it was they were trying to do a Bollywood movie in the vein of a more serious Hollywood style slasher which hadn’t been done- Yeah

really before that, and that’s what that movie was. But, you know, there are no songs in that. It’s like a tight 90 minutes. Yeah. There’s a twist at the end and I don’t know, I enjoyed it but she- I- I think part of the reason she wanted to show me Stree was like, “Dude, you gotta at least do us a solid. Do a better Indian movie.”

Craig: And this is better. This is better, for 

Todd: sure. It’s way better. You should definitely check it out. Thanks again for listening, guys, and find us online. Leave us a review. Let us know what you think. Send us your requests as well. We’re long overdue to do some more requests so, uh, get those requests in. And if you’re one of our patrons, patreon.com/chainsawpodcast, for just five bucks a month you can vote on those requests, and we’re gonna be having one of those votes here very shortly.

So, uh, yeah, if you wanna participate in our podcast in that way, listen to our unedited phone calls and, uh, see the mini-sos that we drop down back there from time to time, and just the general chatter, our book club we have going on reading horror books and discussing them every couple weeks on a Zoom call, patreon.com/chainsawpodcast.

Just five bucks a month gets you access to all that. Until next time, I’m Todd. And I’m Craig. With Two Guys and a Chainsaw.