Mika Singh’s voice crooning “Milegi Milegi” from the upcoming horror comedy Stree blares through Maddock Films’ office in Santa Cruz. The film’s stars Rajkummar Rao and Shraddha Kapoor shake a leg to the song for photographs, as a result the duo are in high spirits when they sit down for a chat – chortling throughout the interview. Kapoor even forgets the heavy earrings that she is waiting to take off once the two start to gleefully elude answers to keep the film’s mysteries intact.
Drawing from Karnataka’s legend ‘Nale Ba’ (Come tomorrow) about a witch that preys on men, and other spine-chilling tales, Stree follows the story of a ladies’ tailor in Chanderi named Vicky, played by Rao. “He is a very practical guy, and doesn’t believe in ghosts or spirits,” shares Rao.
Kapoor on the other hand is tight-lipped about her role as the woman Vicky falls deeply in love with. The story unfolds as Vicky’s rationality is shaken when friends suggest that she could be ‘Stree’. “Whether I am ‘Stree’ or not is up for guesses,” Kapoor says with a twinkle in her eye.
Spooky tales
The actors say they don’t really believe in ghosts now, but admit that a large part of their childhood went in exchanging ghost stories with friends. “When I was small I used to love watching Zee Horror Show,” says Kapoor about the Ramsay Brothers’ television series, “But now I just can’t watch any horror films,” she shares.
Rao shares he distinctly remembers being alone at home with his sister as a child. The two were sitting petrified in a room because they believed someone was peering through the door that was slightly ajar. “We were both [pleading with] each other to just shut the door,” Rao laughs as he reminisces. Kapoor was a more adventurous child. “There is an abandoned bungalow [near] my house,” she shares, “and [my friends and I] made an X-Files mystery club when I was [about] eight. We went with torches inside, and made up all these legends, and we believed it!”
The actors promise the film will be more of a laugh riot than a terrifying affair, and it seems like Stree might carry a deeper message. “It’s an entertaining film, and if [people] take a message out of it as well, that’s an added bonus,” says Rao. But Kapoor adds, “There is no intention to be preachy, but usually they say it’s not safe for women to step out at night. It’s kind of reversed now [in the film].”
While Rao has built a career on an assortment of films, from Vikramaditya Motwane’s survival drama Trapped (2016) to Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari’s romcom Bareilly Ki Barfi (2017), Kapoor is dismantling her girl-next-door image having played the anti-heroine in the biopic Haseena Parkar (2017).
After Stree, she will be seen in a Saina Nehwal biopic, the satirical Batti Gul Meter Chalu, and action-thriller Saaho.
Mixed bag
Kapoor shares her happiness at not getting typecast, “I’m so fortunate that Stree even came my way. You don’t want people to hold back from offering you a film [that] they think you would not fit the bill [for]. It was a very refreshing offer.”
Rao believes that actors experimenting with choices and remoulding their images is a result of audiences seeking a multiplicity of narratives. “Characters and stories are more rooted. People also want to see actors play characters rather than their own personality every time,” he says.
Wrapping up, Rao jokingly lists all of Kapoor’s upcoming films as his own while she giggles. He shares that he will soon be seen in the drama Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga along with father-daughter duo Sonam and Anil Kapoor and Juhi Chawla, and with Kangana Ranaut in Mental Hai Kya.