Stree was released in 2018.
Vicky Kaushal was offered the horror-comedy before Rajkummar Rao, but he turned it down.
Shraddha Kapoor and Rajkummar Rao starrer Stree 2 has proven to be a juggernaut at the box office with its unprecedented success. When the first instalment of the film was released in 2018, ‘Vicky’ was a breakthrough role for Rajkummar Rao. However, this was only possible after Vicky Kaushal rejected the film. Vicky Kaushal was offered the horror-comedy before Rajkummar Rao, but he turned it down to do Manmarziyaan.
In an earlier appearance on Vogue BFFs, Vicky Kaushal was asked to name a film he rejected but regrets losing out on as it became quite big. He said, “Stree, that was because I was doing Manmarziyaan.” While Vicky Kaushal was massively praised for his blue-hair look and performance in the film, Manmarziyaan did not perform well at the box office. Meanwhile, Stree became a game-changer for Rajkummar Rao.
Rajkummar Rao is now garnering praise for his performance in Stree 2. Talking about the success of Stree 2, Rajkummar Rao, in an exclusive interview with News18, said, “We were sure that the film would get a lot of love because of the love that Stree 1 got. There’s a big fan-following for Stree, including me. I am a huge fan of Stree myself. But these numbers are way above our expectations. We are glad and super elated. There’s a lot of gratitude that this is happening with a film like Stree because it is a content-driven film.”
Besides Rajkummar Rao and Shraddha Kapoor, the Stree 2 also features Aparshakti Khurana, Abhishek Banerjee and Pankaj Tripathi in key roles. The film also features stellar cameos from Varun Dhawan and Akshay Kumar. The film crossed Rs 386 crore in India and surpassed the Rs 500 crore mark worldwide in just 11 days. Directed by Amar Kaushik, the sequel to the 2018 movie has set the box office on fire.
Meanwhile, Vicky Kaushal will soon be seen as Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in the upcoming film, Chhaava. The film’s teaser was recently released and has created much anticipation around the film. The film also stars Rashmika Mandanna in the lead. Interestingly, the teaser was first shown before Stree 2. Set to release on December 6, the film wrapped up filming earlier this year and is already generating a lot of buzz.
Directed by Laxman Utekar, known for his work in films like Mimi (2021) and Luka Chuppi (2019), Chhaava marks another collaboration between Utekar and Vicky Kaushal following their recent comedy-romance hit Zara Hatke Zara Bachke (2023). The film also stars Akshaye Khanna, Ashutosh Rana, and Divya Dutta in key roles. According to a report by Pinkvilla, actor Neil Bhoopalam has also been roped in to portray the character of a Mughal prince in the film.
