Crew
Directed by Rajesh A. Krishnan
Starring Kareena Kapoor Khan, Kriti Sanon and Tabu
What happens when a sumptuous airline decides to pull the red carpet and replaces it with a dread carpet?
Total pandemonium! Director Rajesh Krishnan leans in to ferret out some humour in the Kingfisher (here rechristened Kohinoor) crisis. The ‘humour’ includes an airline official Rajvanshi (Rammakant Daayama) dying on flight with tiers of gold tied to his chest. Our trio of airhostess heroines are stricken with congenital greed.
Ha ha to that.
From that takeoff point, pun intended, Crew gets into a zany mood, unwilling to let go off even a single chance to poke fun at those who think material girls are wanton.
They are , they are! But Tabu, Kareena and Kriti make materialism look so mouthwateringly desirable, it would be a shame to wag our fingers at them for going off the righteous path for a bit of fiscal fun .
Kareena especially is a delight with her tongue-in-cheek performance as the most material of the trio of amoral girls. She is spectacularly spot-on with her comic timing and designer b(r)ags and doesn’t allow her character to slow down and get off the rollercoaster of life even for a second.
Interestingly she is the only one of the threesome with no leading man. The men , be it Diljit Dosanjh, Kapil Sharma, Rajesh Varma or Saswat Chatterjee, with their underwritten roles, don’t have it easy in the script.
Tabu, very strangely , is ill-at-ease with her role as an ageing airhostess who likes to get lewd and abusive at times. Was she trying to be Nadira, or just a dramatic actress trying to prove that she too can have fun when she wants to?
Adding to Tabu’s air of discomfort is Kapil Sharma who, believe it or knot, plays her husband! Whoever thought of this bit of casting must be congratulated for imaginative velocity.
Prudently, Kapil is billed as a ‘Guest Star’ in the end credits. Considering the length of his role, he is at best a guest.
Crew manages to be fun in spite of the irreverent cheeky transgressions regarding airline protocols, or maybe because of it. Nidhi Mehra and Mehul Suri’s writing is high on the carbs barbs and digs at the people who live the good life at the expense of those who slog their entire lifetime to keep the home-fire burning.
There is this airhostess named Komal (Pooja Bhurrah) who keeps saying she will have to put her child into a public school as she hasn’t been paid for months. Is Mallya listening? Will he repent after watching this film? Will be angry as his bratty son has been turned into super-bratty daughter in the film?
Agreed , poverty is a good way to keep your head on your shoulder. But it is the rich who have all the fun.
Crew is filled with debt-defying potshots at economic absconders and other financial defaulters. But why are Maharastrian women with a certain body-type and speech pattern always cast as househelp and cops? Here it is Trupti Khamkar as a customs officer who gets laughs for the way she looks and talks.
Stop it!
