Director of Stree and Stree 2, Amar Kaushik believes that horror-comedy is all about the balance. According to him, the trickiest – and most important – part of the genre is making it feel relatable. So, is there a secret formula for horror-comedies? Kaushik breaks it down, “I treat horror scenes as pure horror and comedy scenes as pure comedy. I always remind myself that my film is a comedy where horror is inbuilt, not a horror film with comedy thrown on top.”

In a recent chat with us, Kaushik spoke about the mayhem he creates in his horror-comedies, and why it is so important for him to convey a message through his films.

Scenes in Stree and Stree 2 have jokes on Aadhar and GST. Talking about why he incorporates topical discussions as one-liners, Kaushik says, “I use such dialogues and scenes so that if someone watches my film 20 years later, they will understand what the previous time was like. Set pe agar comedy nahi aati toh hum ye meta jokes add kar dete hain.”

Both the films in Stree franchise carry an undercurrent of commentary on the position and treatment of women in India. Kaushik says, “Cinema is 2.5 hours of entertainment. Mujhe lagta hai ki agar aap entertain-ment ke saath audience ko hansao, rulao aur thoda motivate kar do, toh maza aa jata hai. Otherwise, I keep asking myself – why did I tell that story? What was the point of that story?”

Quoting examples from Stree, he adds, “We thought heroine ki entry full music ke saath hogi, jaisi aaj tak nahi hui hai. Ladke jo rakshak hain, woh chooriyon ki dukaan mein ja kar chhup jayenge. Woh stree hai peeche se vaar nahi karegi, woh saamne se aayegi. Then came this line – ‘Woh stree hai, kuch bhi kar sakti hai.’ And then we developed (our film) on these lines. That dialogue became so powerful. The women-centric aspect in Stree was not in our script; we developed it while we shooting the film.”

Kaushik says that it is the story that works for horror-comedies. “Maine koi horror film dekhi bhi nahi thi pehle. But, when I started my career as a director, a horror film somehow came to me and I thought, ‘Let’s not do horror like typical horror,’” he says.

However, he believes that just because horror films did well in a particular year doesn’t mean horror is the only genre working. He adds, “Koi bhi genre kabhi marta nahi hai. Abhi kitne time se DDLJ jaisi koi kahani aayi nahi. Ab aayegi toh kitna chalegi!”

After Stree, Chanderi gained immense popularity and even became a travel destination. “I have been told by locals that tourists want to visit the places where we filmed Stree. When we were shooting, we used to stay in a guesthouse, and now hotels have come up. There are also people who tell me – ‘Aapne toh Chanderi ko bhootiya bana diya!’” says Kaushik.

- Characters should be relatable and fascinating

- Mediocre actors can’t make the audience laugh, so good actors are essential

- There should be a balance between horror and comedy. When I shoot a horror scene, I treat it like horror, and when I shoot a comedy scene, I treat it like comedy