Amar Kaushik: ‘We know what our third part will be’

Maza aa raha hairdquo is the first thing Amar Kaushik tells us when we sit down to discuss his latest release Stree 2 The directorrsquos elation is justified The Rajkummar Rao and Shraddha Kapoorstarrerrsquos gross collections reportedly zoomed past the Rs 300crore mark on Wednesday ldquoWe all knew the buzz was good but the numbers are unprecedented What mattered to me was not the early boxoffice figure Those numbers can be attributed to the first partrsquos success so they arenrsquot to our credit Itrsquos the numbers after the third day that I care for We have made a film that people have liked thatrsquos very important to usrdquo he beamsWith the horror comedy Kaushik takes forward the universe set up by original creators RajDK The director teamed up with writer Niren Bhatt his Bhediya 2022 collaborator to create a story that would be a natural extension of the 2018 original while introducing new elements ldquoEveryone in the industry discourages sequels But Niren and I found answers in the first filmmdash Streersquos backstory was there Sarkata was seeded there because Stree had demolished him The fact that Sarkata picks up modern women who have agency is also a followup from the original The humour and the charactersrsquo journey were added along the wayrdquoStree 2 like the original has a feminist theme From Kapoorrsquos character fighting Sarkata while the male characters cower in fear in the preinterval sequence to it depicting how men rob womenrsquos agency under the guise of protecting them the horror comedy puts women and their independence at its centre Is the messaging woven in at the story stage itself ldquoIt happens a lot laterrdquo says the director His first priority is to build a ldquosolidrdquo story ldquoNo one can write a film with messaging at the forefront It will get preachy and that is never the point of a story Stree 2 doesnrsquot want to protest at all it wants to feed your critical thinking The film is called Stree she is surrounded by men but it is her story We added small things in the climax like the man and the woman uniting to beat the demon Look what itrsquos tellingmdashthat to beat patriarchy we have to be alliesrdquoKaushik adds ldquoThe universe of Stree is set now Because of Easter eggs we know what our third part will be Itrsquos not written out but Niren and I made notes and know the flowrdquo These Easter eggs cameos and crossover of the horrorcomedy universe have made Stree 2 a joyride And with them have come conspiracy theories The most popular one that Akshay Kumar is actually Sarkata What does Kaushik have to say about that ldquoNo We had an actor Mukesh Kumar we modelled Sarkata on his facerdquo The writerdirector duo smartly seeded in the future of the franchise with Kumarrsquos character Was it easy roping in the superstar for the cameo ldquoIt was the easiest casting Irsquove ever done I was producing Sky Force which he stars in I mentioned the character to him during lunch break one day He was more than happy to do it On a Sunday he came in and shot for usrdquoStree 2rsquos boxoffice success is important in more ways than one It has not only pulled the industry out of its lull but also disproved the theory that only superstar vehicles are the formula for theatrical success Itrsquos a lesson Kaushik knew beforehand He explains ldquoShah Rukh Khan films are working not because he is a star but because they are honest movies A message alone doesnrsquot make a film sail Itrsquos about having a grip on the audiencersquos mind Entertain them thrill them evoke emotions in them The audience can sense the filmmakerrsquos energy and convictionrdquo