In the process, it has dethroned the likes of big-budget action flicks like Jawan, Pathan, and Animal. The film, with a collection of Rs 586 crore domestically has surpassed the lifetime Indian collection of SRK’s Jawan (Rs 582.31 crore) to top the list of highest-grossing Hindi films at the Indian box office. Let’s try to decode the story Stree 2’s unprecedented success at the box office tells us about the state of Bollywood, the future of storytelling through films in India and the impact it has on the other industries.

First, let’s make it clear, the triumph of Stree 2 is a win for quality storytelling. When we interviewed the movie’s writer Niren Bhatt, he told us that they were a bit skeptical about the movie’s success in this post-pandemic world. This doubt stems from the perception that had been built by the audience and the trade experts about the kind of cinema that pulled the audiences to theaters. It was perceived that a big-budget action thriller, with a superstar, playing the invincible over the top avatar of himself, was the only way to attain those handsome box office figures.

The small-budget, character and story-driven ones were confined to a home viewing on OTT platforms with one’s family. However, Stree 2, with its rooted story from a small village with characters who are equally brave and goofballs, has shattered the norms as our beloved Chanderi gang shatters the rotten patriarchy of Sar Kata.

 The success of Stree 2 also owes it to the competition or rather the lack of it if faced at the box office. It enjoyed a smooth run with the absence of any major Bollywood or pan-Indian releases since its release. Thus within a span of just 34 days, it sits at the top. Only the release of movies like Junior NTR’s Devara Part 1 on the 27th of September or Vasan Bala’s Jigra on the 11th of October possess the chance to cut out Stree 2’s collection, but that still gives the movie some more days to set unprecedented numbers and records.

This barren run of quality movies has been the case for the whole of 2024. When we were researching to decode the success of the blockbuster year Malayalam cinema is having in 2024, one of the reasons was those performing incredibly well in the Hindi-speaking belt of India due to the scarcity of Hindi language releases, both in terms of quality and quantity. 

This is also one of the reasons that we are predominantly seeing the trend of re-releases of older Bollywood movies and those often making more money than they had made in their original theatrical run. The re-release and success of movies like Tumbaad and Laila Majnu is a testament that quality storytelling eventually gets its due, and to the social media and theater authority’s credit, this time financially as well. 

Watching a movie in theaters takes a fair bit of effort, even when the tickets are cheap. You have to plan it in advance, beat the harrowing traffic, and park your vehicle in a safe space, or if taking an auto, there’s always the chance to get drenched by the cars thinking they are in a Fast and Furious movie. Even if you don’t purchase the expensive food at the theaters, you are certain to spend some money elsewhere. So if people are more excited to re-live the nostalgia of RHTDM, Gangs of Wasseypur, and Veer-Zaara rather than going for most of the new releases, it tells us something.

The love that the audience showed to a movie like Stree 2 also presents a story and a ray of hope for the new filmmakers just trying to tell a new original good story, that there’s an audience, eagerly waiting to be entertained, and the entertainment need not be mindless violence or an A-lister flying mid-way in the air.