On August 26, Stree 2 crossed Rs 402 crore collections at the global box office since its release on August 15. Starring Rajkummar Rao, Shraddha Kapoor, Pankaj Tripathi, Abhishek Banerjee and Aparshakti Khurana, the horror comedy, a sequel to the 2018 film Stree, has become the second-highest-grossing Bollywood film of 2024. Right before Stree 2, another horror comedy, Munjya, had become a sleeper hit, raking in around Rs 132 crore worldwide. What made these films click with the Hindi audience as compared to big star and big-budget films like Maidaan and Bade Miyan and Chote Miyan?
Why We Love Horror
India has a deep love for the horror genre. Thanks to our diverse culture, people across the country are brought up listening to and reading culturally rooted Indian folk tales and stories, like Vikram aur Betaal. Amar Chitra Katha comics and books, which included Indian mythology and humour, were a staple diet for kids. The Indian audience loves stories of ghosts. It's thus not surprising that filmmaker Mehmood's Bhoot Bungla was a superhit in 1965 and officially the first horror comedy in Hindi cinema. The Ramsay brothers (from the 1970s to 1980s) were known for their horror stories in Hindi, though the later years only saw disasters in the genre. Bhoot (Ram Gopal Varma) and Raaz (Vikram Bhatt) in the early 2000s were like a shot in the arm, but a short-lived one.
However, over the last few years, the genre is seeing a strong revival, as seen in the success of Bhool Bhulaiya, Stree and so on. Bollywood celebrities have also discovered the power of horror-comedies. Interestingly, South Cinema has always had a fascination for horror films. Malayalam film Manichitrathazhu (1993), for instance, was remade in Tamil as Chandramukhi and in Hindi as Bhool Bhulaiya, and these were blockbusters across all languages. This year, Romanchan and Bhoothakaalam were hits in Malayalam, while Aranmanai 4 scored big in Tamil.
What Makes Horror Comedies Click
People are used to 'ghost stories' in India. But horror comedies are different. A well-written horror story that has elements of comedy goes beyond just jump-scares. Interestingly, there's something common among films in this genre that are working well at the box office: they are inspired by Indian folklore and tales and combine supernatural elements with contemporary settings. If Munjya directed by Aditya Sarpotdar is about what happens to young Bittu, a hairdresser, when he goes to his ancestral home, Stree 2 is about a town being haunted by a supernatural entity. Bollywood experimented with werewolves too - thanks to the West's obsession - with vampires like Varun Dhawan's Bhediya, but it didn't really work for the Indian audience.
One must also note how the new horror comedies emerging from Bollywood have underlying messages as well. For instance, Bulbul (Netflix) talks about the suppression of women and patriarchy, while Roohi (Netflix) talks about feminism and arranged marriages. Stree, which was based on the Nale Ba folktale from Karnataka, focused on feminism and the trauma that women face in their lives.
India, with its rich culture and traditions, has a huge potential to explore both horror and horror-comedy genres. Ultimately, what the audience wants is good stories and performances that will engage them and push them to come back for more. Good horror comedies - which need not be made with hundreds of crores or star A-listers - prove that a good film is not so difficult to achieve.
(The author is a senior entertainment journalist and film critic)
Disclaimer: These are the personal opinions of the author