Rajkummar Rao going off-script cost Stree 2 makers Rs 25 lakh; story of Bollywood's costliest improvisation revealed

Stree 2 is fast emerging as one of the biggest Bollywood blockbusters of recent times. The horror comedy banked upon quality entertainment, the hype of a sequel, and lack of quality Hindi films recently to get audiences into the theatres. What has worked in Stree 2’s favour is that in comparison with other recent big hits, it has a lower budget. That makes its success (and profits) bigger. But that budget could have been even lower, had it not been a spur-of-the-moment spark of creativity from the lead actor Rajkummar Rao.

How Rajkummar Rao cost Stree 2 makers Rs 25 lakh

Stree 2 is a sequel to the 2018 hit Stree and brings back the original cast of Rajkummar Rao, Shraddha Kapoor, Pankaj Tripathi, Aparshakti Khurana, and Abhishek Banerjee. The horror comedy has been praised for its humorous elements with many of the actors admitting that they improvised a lot on set. In a recent interview with Fever FM, Abhishek Banerjee revealed how one bit of improvisation from Rajkummar actually ended up costing the makers lakhs of rupees.

A scene in the first half of the film sees Rajkummar’s character Vicky waiting on a motorcycle with his headphones plugged in, listening to a song. The actor then sings along the song, which is revealed to be ‘Calm Down’. The hilarious rendition of the song, completely improvised, floored fans. Talking about the scene, Abhishek said, “You don’t do improvisation for the effect. Not even Raj. The ‘lo lo lo’ he does (referring to the song), that is fully improvised. And let me tell you something. Rs 25 lakh were spent due to that improvisation because they had to buy the rights (to the song). So friends, it was a costly improvisation. Rajkummar Rao ne, I think, Hindustan ke itihaas ka sabse mehenga improvisation kiya hai (Rajkummar Rao has done the costliest improvisation in Indian history.”

Stree 2’s box office success

As of Sunday, Stree 2 has grossed Rs 657 crore globally, including Rs 480 crore net in India alone. It is already the fifth-highest grossing Bollywood film in India, behind Jawan, Animal, Gadar 2, and Pathaan. Going by the current collections, it is almost certain to enter the Rs 500-crore club and be in the top three eventually.

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