Stree

With laughs and scares, Stree delivers an important message.

Stree is enjoyable for the most part...About time Bollywood gave us a feminist ghost.

On the good side, as in some of the recent Bollywood films, Stree has a quaint sense of place, eccentric characters, a few madcap sequences and some sharply written, consciously irreverent lines to keep one engaged.

This refreshing horror-comedy directed by Amar Kaushik keeps viewers hooked with its fun and thrilling approach.

There's only so much an exciting premise can do for a bloated film that frequently loses its grip on its plot.

Stree is about a ghoul that picks up lone men at night. But by the time the horror comedy finds its tone, the damage done by its jarring background score and pointless songs is irreversible.

What keeps our interest alive is the dialogue, which is witty and earthy, and the lively performances.

With Stree, everything clicks into place nicely, with the film riffing as a desi version of Jonathan Glazer's Under the Skin.

Credit has to be given where it is due. Stree was a creative experiment and it worked for most parts.

The laughs are inconsistent, and despite a breezy-ish momentum, the plotting feels sloppy and rushed. The ideas are fine, but the writing needed work.