Our confidence grew at every stage, says director Amar Kaushik as Stree crosses Rs100 crore mark

There were three new releases on Friday, 14 September, but it is holdover release Stree that continues to be the audience favourite.

Anurag Kashyap’s Manmarziyaan, that was supposed to be the biggest draw of the week, could make only Rs13.75 crore nett in its opening weekend. 

Stree, with reduced screens, still made an impressive Rs10.25 crore nett in its third weekend, and in the process surpassed Rs100 crore nett at the domestic box office. Stree has so far made Rs104.02 crore nett at the domestic box office, as reported by Boxofficeindia.com.

Made at an estimated budget of Rs20 crore, Stree was initially released across 1,800 screens in India. It is the highest earning film for actors like Rajkummar Rao and Pankaj Tripathi. The film also features Shraddha Kapoor. Interestingly, superstar Akshay Kumar’s much-fancied Independence Day release Gold had many more screens (over 2,500), but it could only make Rs102.27 crore nett in domestic business.  

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Stree is not the first film in the horror or horror comedy genre to see such success. Rohit Shetty’s multi-starrer Golmaal Again (2017) had made Rs205.50 crore nett in its overall India business. Golmaal Again had a big director and was a multi-starrer film. Stree making Rs100 crore is indeed commendable.

"I reckon people were hungry to see something new. They found that in Stree and have appreciated it. It’s their love and affection that has helped Stree make Rs100 crore," director Amar Kaushik told Cinestaan.com.

“We always strive to make a good film. We never thought that we had no stars. Every artiste, every crew member was a star in his own right. We made a film with full sincerity and we have been rewarded for that,” added Kaushik.

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When asked if Stree collections had surpassed his expectations, Kaushik said, “I never expected such numbers, but while making the film, I was confident that we were making a good product. We completed the shoot in 37 days. We felt good during the shoot, and then when it went for post-editing, sound, and the film came out even better. Our confidence grew at every stage.”

In our last conversation, Kaushik had told us that a sequel could only happen once they have a concrete script. Now that Stree has made over Rs100 crore, we asked is things had progressed on the sequel front.

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“Stree 2 will be made, but when it will come, I cannot say anything on that. The new film will have to match or better the script of the first film. We will be having a discussion with [writers] Raj Nidimoru and Krishna DK. It is their baby. So far, they haven’t put pen to paper,” Kaushik concluded.

Kaushik has already penned his next film that will be produced by Dinesh Vijan. The filmmaker refused to reveal more.