In the small town of Chanderi, the menfolk live in fear of an evil spirit named "Stree" who abducts men in the night. Based on the urban legend of "Nale Ba" that went viral in Karnataka in the 1990s.
Chanderi village is haunted for years by a witch whose called as Stree. She abducts men in dark leaving their clothes behind during the four day annual festival. Vicky young and handsome village tailor disbelief's these stories. He meets an Unnamed women whose in the village every year during the festival. Vicky and the women start getting close to each other. But his friends Jaana and Bitu get suspicious that till date only Vicky has seen the women and believe that she could be Stree.—[email protected]
The film opens in the peculiar town of Chanderi, India. The residents of Chanderi believe in the myth of an angry woman ghost, referred to as "Stree" (Hindi for woman) (Flora Saini), who stalks men during Durga Puja festival. This is explained by the sudden disappearance of these men, leaving their clothes behind.
Vicky (Rajkummar Rao), a tailor in Chanderi, falls in love with a mysterious, anonymous girl (Shraddha Kapoor) who is only seen during that festival season. Her frequent disappearances make his friends suspicious, and they start believing that she could be Stree haunting the city, but Vicky believes that his friends are only gossiping. The whole town protects itself from Stree during the 4 nights of Durga puja by writing "OO Stree, Kal Aana" on their walls.After one of his friends, Jaana (Abhishek Banerjee), disappears in the same fashion (after Vicky pees on the writing on the wall, which erases the warning to Stree), Vicky attempts to research the myth and its verifiability. He continues to go out with his girl, who makes him bring strange artifacts (lizards' tail, cat's hair and so on), but Vikcy is too head over heels in love with her to care. But when another guy in the village disappears, both his friends tell him to be very cautious of his anonymous girlfriend. even Vicky suspects that she is the Stree.
Vicky comes across a book in a library owned by a student of the paranormal, Rudra (Pankaj Tripathi), who had studied the myth. He reveals that Stree had married a local boy long ago, but due to it being an inter caste marriage, the boy was hacked to death, so now Stree roams the streets to complete her honeymoon. Some pages of the book, however, appear to be torn. But in the book Vikcy notices sketches of a place which he has seen with his girlfriend. He decides to investigate. Stree attacks Vicky but is driven away by the Vicky's girl. She reveals that she has been trying to stop Stree for the last 3 years as she also lost a loved one to Stree. Jaana is recovered, but he begins behaving abnormally. The next morning, more men are found to be missing from Jaana's doings. The girl suppresses Jaana.
Vicky's and the girl meet the original book's author (whose pages were missing). He tells Vicky and the girl that Stree used to serve the village with dedication but was ejected from the village over a small dispute. She was destitute and was given shelter by one man, who was lynched by the village. So, now Stree is out for her revenge and won't sit idle till even a single guy is alive in the village.The author informs them of a riddle pointing to a savior from Stree, who is later found to be Vicky. Vicky, his friends, Rudra, and the girl attack Stree, but Vicky leaves her alive (even after the girl subdues the Stree and asks Vicky to drive a stake through her heart. But Vicky refuses to do the same injustice that the village did with her so many years ago) after cutting her magical hair, which renders her powerless. His mysterious girlfriend is seen at the bus station the next day, where Vicky bids her farewell without asking her name. While on the bus, the girl is revealed to be carrying the hair Vicky had cut from Stree, which she places with the rest of her own hair, as all powers of a witch reside in her hair. She disappears from the bus, suggesting that she could be another witch.
Stree visits Chanderi again the following year and finds her statue at the town entrance with the words "O Stree, raksha karna" (Hindi for Hey woman, protect us) instead of "O Stree kal aana", because Vicky told everybody in the village that Stree was not looking for honeymoon, but only for love and respect.
