Stree 2 director Amar Kaushik says horror comedy sequel was made under a lot of pressure: 'Gaali khaane ke liye...'

Starring Rajkummar Rao, Shraddha Kapoor, Pankaj Tripathi, Abhishek Banerjee and Aparshakti Khurana among others, the 2024 horror comedy Stree 2 was the sequel of the 2018 film of the same name. The film grossed more than Rs 850 crore worldwide and emerged as one of the biggest blockbusters in Indian cinema. Amar Kaushik, who had made his directorial debut with Stree, helmed the sequel as well. In an interview with the veteran trade analyst Komal Nahta on his YouTube channel Game Changers, the filmmaker shared that Stree 2 was made under a lot of pressure as sequels are always harshly judged in Bollywood.

When asked how his life has changed after the blockbuster success of Stree 2, Kaushik said, "The film was made under a lot of pressure, it was preponed a lot, and many things happened — so now I’m going to take it easy for 3–4 months. Secondly, people’s expectations have increased a lot, asking when the next one will be made, so I’m trying to avoid that and not take that pressure upon myself. Other than that, nothing else has changed."

Explaining why the sequel was made under a lot of pressure, the director added, "Sequel ko hamesha gaaliyan padti hai. Maine aur mere writer, Niren Bhatt ne kaha ki gaali khaane ke liye ready raho, ab kitni kam khaaenge uspe kaam karte hai (Sequels are always judged harshly. My writer, Niren Bhatt, and I told ourselves, 'We should be prepared to get bashed, now let’s just work on how to reduce the criticism as much as possible). When it came to VFX, you don’t have to do it yourself, you just have to give instructions and get the work done, so it’s hard to understand the time frame. When we realised there was still a lot of work left and very little time, we lost sleep for the last 2–3 months."

Released on August 15 last year, Stree 2: Sarkate Ka Aatank was the fourth film in the Maddock Horror Comedy Universe after Stree, Bhediya, and Munjya. The threequel Stree 2 is slated to release on August 13, 2027. The production house Maddock Films has already announced the release date of next eight films in the horror comedy universe.