How Stree Cast Fell Into Place: An In-Flight Conversation, A Cafe Meet And Gut Instinct

Stree released on August 31, 2018, and went on to emerge as a box office and critical success. It's much-anticipated sequel Stree 2, also directed by Amar Kaushik, hit the screens on August 15 and will cross ₹500 crore mark at the domestic box office soon. Stree 2, penned by Niren Bhatt and produced by Dinesh Vijan of Maddock Films, brought back other original cast members Rajkummar Rao as Vicky Shraddha Kapoor, Pankaj Tripathi as Rudra, Abhishek Banerjee as Jana and Aparshakti Khurana as Bittu. Here's how the cast came together, as revealed by the makers.

The process of casting for Stree

Amar Kaushik said he had three actors in his mind to play Vicky, but he eventually realised that Rajkummar Rao would be apt for the role. "When we were writing the first Stree there were three options for the character of Vicky, I was asked who I would like to cast. I wanted to make Chor Nikal Ke Bhaga (which he later produced) with Raj but that film didn’t happen. So, he is the first actor I knew in the industry. I felt Raj would be the ideal choice for the character of Vicky. All the actors were the perfect fit for the characters that they played," Amar told PTI.

Tripathi came on board even without reading the script of Stree, which was written by Raj & DK with Sumit Arora credited for dialogues. "I met Pankaj sir at a film festival where he had seen my short film Aaba and loved it. He said, 'Let me know about your next film'. "I met him at a cafe (later) and he said, ‘Main karta hoon’ ('I'll do it'). I don’t think he had even read the script when he said yes. He had said yes after listening to the narration of Stree,” Amar further shared.

How Shraddha and Abhishek came onboard Stree

Amar Kaushik credited producer Dinesh Vijan for casting Shraddha Kapoor. "It was his (Vijan) idea that she should be part of the film. They met on a flight and they both talked about Stree," he said.

Amar, who knew Abhishek Banerjee as a casting director, said he had a gut feeling that the actor would be good at comedy. "Abhishek had never done comedy and I thought he should do this film. I had known him while he was casting and when he would read the lines while casting for the films, I felt he could be a great actor. I told him when I would direct my first film, I would like to cast him. So, when Stree happened, I approached him. He wanted to play Bittu’s character. But I told him that he seemed closer to the role of Jana, and he agreed,” the director, who made his debut with Stree, said.