Stree 2 To Munjya, Indian Horror Has Struck A ‘People’ Goldmine

On August 26, Stree 2 crossed Rs 402 crore collections on the world field workplace since its launch on August 15. Starring Rajkummar Rao, Shraddha Kapoor, Pankaj Tripathi, Abhishek Banerjee and Aparshakti Khurana, the horror comedy, a sequel to the 2018 movie Stree, has change into the second-highest-grossing Bollywood movie of 2024. Proper earlier than Stree 2, one other horror comedy, Munjya, had change into a sleeper hit, raking in round Rs 132 crore worldwide. What made these movies click on with the Hindi viewers as in comparison with massive star and big-budget movies like Maidaan and Bade Miyan and Chote Miyan?

Why We Love Horror 

India has a deep love for the horror style. Because of our numerous tradition, folks throughout the nation are introduced up listening to and studying culturally rooted Indian folks tales and tales, like Vikram aur Betaal. Amar Chitra Katha comics and books, which included Indian mythology and humour, have been a staple food regimen for teenagers. The Indian viewers loves tales of ghosts. It is thus not shocking that filmmaker Mehmood’s Bhoot Bungla was a superhit in 1965 and formally the primary horror comedy in Hindi cinema. The Ramsay brothers (from the Seventies to Nineteen Eighties) have been recognized for his or her horror tales in Hindi, although the later years solely noticed disasters within the style. Bhoot (Ram Gopal Varma) and Raaz (Vikram Bhatt) within the early 2000s have been like a shot within the arm, however a short-lived one. 

Nonetheless, over the previous couple of years, the style is seeing a robust revival, as seen within the success of Bhool Bhulaiya, Stree and so forth. Bollywood celebrities have additionally found the facility of horror-comedies. Curiously, South Cinema has at all times had a fascination for horror movies. Malayalam movie Manichitrathazhu (1993), for example, was remade in Tamil as Chandramukhi and in Hindi as Bhool Bhulaiya, and these have been blockbusters throughout all languages. This yr, Romanchan and Bhoothakaalam have been hits in Malayalam, whereas Aranmanai 4 scored massive in Tamil.

What Makes Horror Comedies Click on

Individuals are used to ‘ghost tales’ in India. However horror comedies are totally different. A well-written horror story that has components of comedy goes past simply jump-scares. Curiously, there’s one thing widespread amongst movies on this style which are working effectively on the field workplace: they’re impressed by Indian folklore and tales and mix supernatural components with up to date settings. If Munjya directed by Aditya Sarpotdar is about what occurs to younger Bittu, a hairdresser, when he goes to his ancestral residence, Stree 2 is a couple of city being haunted by a supernatural entity. Bollywood experimented with werewolves too – due to the West’s obsession – with vampires like Varun Dhawan’s Bhediya, but it surely did not actually work for the Indian viewers. 

One should additionally word how the brand new horror comedies rising from Bollywood have underlying messages as effectively. For example, Bulbul (Netflix) talks concerning the suppression of ladies and patriarchy, whereas Roohi (Netflix) talks about feminism and organized marriages. Stree, which was primarily based on the Nale Ba folktale from Karnataka, centered on feminism and the trauma that ladies face of their lives. 

India, with its wealthy tradition and traditions, has an enormous potential to discover each horror and horror-comedy genres. Finally, what the viewers desires is sweet tales and performances that can interact them and push them to return again for extra. Good horror comedies –  which needn’t be made with a whole lot of crores or star A-listers – show {that a} good movie shouldn’t be so tough to attain.

(The writer is a senior leisure journalist and movie critic)

Disclaimer: These are the private opinions of the writer