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Twinkle Khanna, aka Mrs Funnybones, spoke about the ‘strees (women)’ of India not being scared of ghosts in her latest column for The Times of India, titled ‘Why ghosts don’t scare the Indian Stree’. The actor-turned-author began by narrating ‘one of the apocryphal tales’ of her childhood, which revolved around her great aunt being ‘possessed by an evil spirit’. Also read: Twinkle Khanna reacts to Zomato ‘pure veg’ controversy
‘We are still teaching our daughters the same things’
She then went on to list how horror movies seem to contain ‘less unsettling components than the scary things we see every day around us’. Twinkle mentioned ‘the rape and murder of a trainee doctor in Kolkata’, ‘two four-year-olds who were sexually abused in a school in Badlapur’ and other cases as she spoke about how Stree 2 was ‘a subversion of the fear that women experience on a daily basis’.
She wrote, “Fifty years on this planet, and I find that we are still teaching our daughters the same things that I was taught as a child. Don’t go alone. To the park, to school, to work. Don’t go alone with any man, even if it’s your uncle, cousin or friend. Don’t go alone in the morning or evening, and especially not at night. Don’t go alone because it’s not a matter of if, but when. Don’t go alone because you may never come back.”
Twinkle concluded, “It is time to ensure that laws are enforced and followed, guaranteeing safety measures for women in public spaces instead of confining us at home. Till then, I suppose it is safer for the strees (women) of this country to encounter a ghost in a dark alley than a man.”
On Stree and Stree 2
Twinkle wrote that scary movies can also be an entertaining way of conveying an important social message like in Stree 2. In the first instalment of what is now turning into an entire horror universe, she said there is a ‘role reversal’ to the kinds of stories her grandmother would tell her during childhood to ‘scare’ her sister Rinkie Khanna and her, so they ‘didn’t wander off to the adjacent Juhu beach’ near their house.
However, in Stree, ‘women are free, and men are scared, as the supernatural Stree, who descends for four nights in a year, only preys on men wandering around after dusk’. Starring Shraddha Kapoor and Rajkummar Rao, Stree 2 is turning out to be one of the biggest Hindi films of recent years and has already grossed over ₹450 crore worldwide after releasing on Independence Day 2024.
Twinkle career as an actor and author
She quit films after a few years of working in movies such as Barsaat (1995) – for which won the Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut – as well as Jab Pyaar Kisise Hota Hai (1998), Seenu (1999), Baadshah (1999) and Joru Ka Ghulam (2000) and Love Ke Liye Kuch Bhi Karega (2001).
In 2015, Twinkle released her first non-fiction book, Mrs Funnybones. Her second book was The Legend of Lakshmi Prasad (2016), a collection of short stories. Twinkle’s third book was Pyjamas Are Forgiving (2018), while her fourth book, Welcome to Paradise, was released in 2023.
