Geetu Sethi wants to own a restaurant. Divya Rana dreams of becoming a pilot. Jasmine Kohli wants to become rich and cover herself from head to toe in Louis Vuitton. Instead, they are all air hostesses working for an airline about to go belly-up any moment. Like the trio that forms its core, Crew aims to be something it is not — a fun, frothy film essenced with a message or two about feminism. And though it remains quite watchable for a large part, Crew often degenerates into a half-baked, rushed bore.
That is because frivolousness can only take a film up to a certain point. We are definitely not looking for Citizen Kane here but the absence of a strong plot — and we are not even using the word ‘credible’ here — mars what could have been a fun yet important film about women wresting agency from men by means fair or unfair. But Crew, especially in Half Two, is too preoccupied to push things ahead at breakneck speed, resolve complex issues with the kind of simplicity that borders on stupidity and have its women triumphantly walk slo-mo into the sunset.
That, however, doesn’t mean that Crew isn’t entertaining. It sure is, powered as it is by the dynamic cast of Tabu, Kareena Kapoor Khan and Kriti Sanon. The three actors, all of whom possess enviable screen presence, are the lifeline of Crew, both metaphorically and literally. The trio, who play thick pals both up in the air and on the ground, are a hoot, putting life and soul into characters that could have easily become the sum total of only their synopses in the film’s script.
When we meet them, things are far from hunky-dory in the lives of the three colleagues-cum-chums. Geetu (Tabu), a former beauty queen from Karnal and her husband (played by comedian Kapil Sharma) are counting pennies after having been deprived of their family jewels. While Kapil isn’t given a joke or even a single smart line to crack, Tabu manages to make the most of the ones she does. Despite its elitist connotation, you can’t help but laugh when Geetu — who has given two decades of her life to hearing boorish passengers complain about cold meals and cramped leg space — laments her transformation from “beauty queen se bai”.
Jasmine (Kareena) is a mid-career employee with a penchant for not only dreaming about the good life but also making it happen. Jasmine has the habit of picking up things — watches, jewellery and even the toiletries in her hotel bathroom — that don’t belong to her, without a pang of guilt. Jasmine is sexy and sassy and doesn’t bat an eyelid to claim that “crime is her forte”. In short, she is a lot like Kareena (ignoring the ‘crime’ bit) and the actor has fun playing her even as we have a blast watching her. That meta moment of Kareena cheekily going ‘Sona kitna sona hain’ to sister Karisma’s memorable Hero No. 1 number is pure gold.
Divya (Kriti) is the poor little poor girl who is faking it till she makes it. A trained pilot without a job, she is now an air hostess but walks out of the home she shares with her parents in a pilot’s uniform only to change in the airport bathroom. Diljit Dosanjh plays Jai, Divya’s smitten suitor who is given to addressing her as “Divya Rana from Haryana” for the entire length of the film. Both Kapil and Diljit exude charm and know what they have to do — stay in the background as the women in Crew take centre stage.
But with Kohinoor Airlines facing bankruptcy and its staff not being paid for months by owner Vijay Walia — now where have we heard that before? — the trio chance upon a gold smuggling racket within the airline and with little or no scruples, they decide to make hay while the sun shines. The happy days last only for a bit and with Walia (Saswata Chatterjee plays glib and slimy with relish) escaping the country with the goods in a too-close-to-reality plot point, it is left to Geetu, Jasmine and Divya to set things straight in reverse Ocean’s 8 style.
Coming in with the promise of good-looking people in a good-looking film, Crew delivers. The contrivance and convenience resorted to more often than not are acceptable, given the genre of the film. However, the wafer-thin plot feels too stretched while, contrarily, certain situations are glossed over too quickly in its 123-minute runtime. The story by Mehul Suri And Nidhi Mehra throws up no surprises and the million product placements — almost every frame screams out the name of some brand — are pretty annoying.
Director Rajesh A. Krishnan, who gave us the eminently watchable heist comedy Lootcase a few years ago, knows a thing or two about mounting a story in this genre and he does manage to do that pretty successfully here.
However, a story about achieving the balance between women who are grey but sensitive and constantly look out for each other even though they may come across as selfish sometimes needed a more assured hand and someone with the capability to understand the myriad layers of the female emotional quotient. Krishnan falls short but thankfully, that is taken care of by the electric performers at the centre whose familiar chemistry — whether they are gleefully counting their spoils or crying on each other’s shoulders — helps Crew fly high, if not soar consistently. We are rooting for a (much better) sequel.
Priyanka Roy
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