Will not make Stree 2 under pressure: Rajkummar Rao

Actor Rajkummar Rao says they will make the sequel of his hugely acclaimed horror-comedy film Stree with the same honesty and affection they had for the original.

Also featuring Pankaj Tripathi, Abhishek Banerjee, Aparshakti Khurana, and Shraddha Kapoor, the movie turned out to be one of the most commercially-successful and critically-acclaimed films of 2018.

The makers confirmed the sequel last month with the core cast returning along with director Amar Kaushik.

“‘Stree is so special for all of us. Amar and I discussed that we will not make it under pressure. We will make it with the same kind of sincerity and love that we had while making part one. We will maintain the same honesty in part two,” Rao told PTI on the sidelines of the IIFA Rocks awards ceremony on Friday.

“Stree was set in the small town of Chanderi, Madhya Pradesh, where an evil spirit named ‘Stree’ abducts men in the night during festival season. It was based on the urban legend of “Nale Ba” that went viral in Karnataka in the 1990s.

Rao said the follow-up is currently under pre-production and they will begin filming soon. Stree 2, produced by Dinesh Vijan and Jio Studios, will be released in August 2024.

The actor co-hosted the IIFA Rocks event last night alongside filmmaker-choreographer Farah Khan and was thrilled about the gig.

“It is my first-time hosting IIFA Rocks and that too with Farah ma’am, who I love immensely. She is amazing and fabulous,” he added.

Khan, known for directing films such as "Main Hoon Na" and "Om Shanti Om", lauded Rao for his sense of humour.

“Raj has a great sense of humour and we get along really well. Our tastes are very different but that’s the fun of it. I am fighting for commercial cinema and he is waxing about his kind of movies. It is good to have friends from different zones so you get different perspectives. It is good to have young friends,” the filmmaker said.