Never wanted to start my career with a horror film: Amar Kaushik on ‘Stree’ franchise

Mumbai, Aug 21 (PTI) It’s exactly a week since Amar Kaushik’s “Stree 2” released in theatres to great numbers and the director says the team has partied hard but now he wants to catch a wink before thinking about his next.

The film, a much awaited follow-up to 2018’s box office dark horse “Stree”, has been lapped up by the audiences and is nearing Rs 300 crore mark globally.

“We had a party and enjoyed too much. We were confident that the film was good but we didn’t expect that it would get these big numbers,” Kaushik told PTI in an interview.

“…I’m sleep deprived. I barely slept, so first I’ll sleep and then I’ll start thinking of my next movie,” he added.

Kaushik revealed that he didn’t want to start his filmmaking journey with a horror film. Had it been up to him, he would have made his debut with “Chor Nikal Ke Bhaga” with Rajkummar Rao, who eventually went on to play the gentle tailor of Chanderi in “Stree” franchise.

Kaushik eventually produced “Chor…” with Yami Gautam and Sunny Kaushal in lead role for Netflix. The 2023 film was directed by Ajay Singh.

“When ‘Stree’ released, it was my first film, I was very nervous. I never wanted to start my career with a horror film, that was the last thing I thought I would make. While we were editing the film, we felt this was a different kind of film as there was no reference point for it,” he said.

The trailer of “Stree” received a good response and Kaushik is thankful that the audience was more than willing to come and watch the sequel.

“People are more intelligent than us as filmmakers, they understand when a film is offering them a new experience, which they felt during ‘Stree’. The film then opened at Rs 6.5 to 7 crore, then it did Rs 50 crore and Rs 130 crore,” he said recalling the success of his first film.

The challenge after “Stree”, Kaushik said, was to not become a one hit wonder.

“Luckily, my next film worked,” he said referring to 2019’s “Bala”, which featured Ayushmann Khurrana, Bhumi Pednekar and Gautam.

The filmmaker said his goal now is to “serve” the audience by giving them new experience every time.

“I was also an audience member a few years back, and I was craving for good cinema, and something new. When I got the chance to make it (‘Stree’), I tried to give something new,” he said.

The filmmaker, who is the son of a forest ranger and a school teacher, was born in Arunachal Pradesh, which also served as the backdrop of “Bhediya”, his 2022 hit, starring Varun Dhawan and Kriti Sanon. He grew in Kanpur and studied in Delhi and Mumbai.

If not horror-comedy then what kind of film he wanted to make?

“A thriller. I love that genre. Since I had assisted (Rajkumar Gupta) on ‘No One Killed Jessica’ and ‘Aamir’, I wanted to direct a thriller as my debut film. I wanted to make my debut with ‘Chor Nikal Ke Bhaga’, which I produced later,” he said.

His love for thrillers reflects in his comedies too which are full of twists and turns.

“I try to put the thrill, surprise, suspense element, twists and turns in horror-comedy films (now),” he added.

“Stree” was written by Raj Nidimoru and Krishna DK, who have their own successful careers in streaming and movies. The second part was written by Niren Bhatt, who also penned “Bhediya” and “Munjya” movies, all part of the “Stree” horror-comedy universe, produced by Dinesh Vijan’s Maddock Films.

On “Stree 2”, Kaushik said he was involved with the story right from day one.

“We worked on the script of ‘Stree’ for four to five months and for ‘Stree 2’ we sat for almost two and a half years. We started work on it before we began work on ‘Bhediya’. We were thinking about how to take the world of ‘Stree’ ahead, and how to bring all of them together (cameo of Akshay Kumar, Varun Dhawan). We had written 16 drafts,” he revealed.

“Stree” revolved around a female ghost, who was wronged in her mortal life and “Stree 2” story focuses on a headless villain with a connection to the eponymous character.

“…We got the idea from our first film itself that in Chanderi, a courtesan who is the Stree, cut the head of that man who killed her. Then we thought why not bring him as the villain?

“Sarkata, the demon has been taken from our own mythological stories. I’ve been inspired by mythology as a director and I want to use it in a way that entertains the audience and at the same time conveys something important. Then we had this thing about Ardhanarishvara (half Shiva and half Parvati form of Mahadeva), half man and woman, so we’ve taken it from our mythology and culture and included in the film.”

Not just mythology, the film is peppered with references from movies like “Mission Impossible”, “Star Wars”, “Avengers” and shows such as “Big Bang Theory”, which Kaushik said is part of day-to-day life of those who grew up on them.

“When you write a story and add certain things from pop culture, it resonates with people. For instance, in our day-to-day lives, we often use pop culture references to communicate things, so why not use that in films as well?

“Like, the character of Raj likes singing English songs but doesn’t know the lyrics so ‘Calm Down’ song (track by Rema and Selena Gomez) becomes ‘Come Down’. I see humour in these things and felt it would fit well with the story. I don’t believe in having heavy dialogues,” he said.

“Stree 2”, also starring Shraddha Kapoor, Aparshakti Khurana, Pankaj Tripathi, Abhishek Banerjee, released on August 15. The film also features cameos by Akshay, Varun and Tamannaah Bhatia.