‘Stree 3’ already written, will be less gap with next one: producer Dinesh Vijan

Mumbai, Jul 18 (PTI) As fans await the release of “Stree 2”, producer Dinesh Vijan on Thursday said the next installment in his popular horror-comedy franchise is already written and will arrive in cinemas sooner than later.

“Stree”, about a small town terrorised by a female ghost, released in 2018 and became an instant box office and critical hit. Its success spawned Vijan’s horror-comedy universe which boasts of titles such as “Roohi”, “Bhediya” and “Munjya”.

At the trailer launch of “Stree 2”, Vijan laid out the plan he has for his ambitious movie universe. They recently released “Munjya”, based on a Marathi folklore, and the film was a box office hit despite featuring a relatively new cast in Abhay Verma and Sharvari.

“‘Stree 2’ is like the mothership. It answers a lot of questions that ‘Stree’ one raised and also tells you what the connections are. What will come next after ‘Stree’ will be a film called ‘Thama’, which we will tell you about later. We have already written ‘Stree 3’, so the gap will be less,” the producer told reporters here.

Most of the primary cast of “Stree”, including actors Rajkummar Rao, Shraddha Kapoor, Pankaj Tripathi, Abhishek Banerjee and Aparshakti Khurana, will reprise their roles in the follow-up film slated to be released on August 15.

The characters, who successfully solved the mystery of the female ghost in the first film, will now battle a new terror in the form of a ghost who only has a head, aptly called Sarkata. “Stree 2” will also delve into the mystery surrounding the character played by Kapoor.

Vijan, who runs production banner Maddock Films, promised that the film will be their “most paisa vasool” movie till date.

“It is bigger, madder, crazier. The trailer is only 10 per cent because it has a lot of visual effects in it and we want to leave that for the theatre but if you come, it is Maddock’s most ‘paisa vasool’ film for two hours and 20 minutes… We will see the popcorns fly, that’s how sure we are,” he added.

Kapoor, who was dressed in a red saree for the trailer launch, was asked about her marriage plans and the actor used a popular dialogue from the movie to evade the question.

“Woh Stree hai, use jab dulhan banna hai woh banegi (She is Stree, she will get married whenever she wants),” the actor quipped.