Anil Kapoor has appointed himself the spokesperson of the women producers’ club. Currently, as per him, there are only two active members in this club and he strongly feels they need wider support from the film industry. Of course, it wasn’t entirely as an uninvolved male filibustering for the female producer — he was at Ektaa Kapoor’s house for the trailer launch of the Tabu-Kareena-Kriti Sanon film Crew, which has been produced by him, his daughter Rhea and Ektaa.

“We’re not talking about rona-dhona, weepy women’s films but totally commercial, fun films,” Anil bashed on. “There are only two women making them, Ektaa and Rhea. Everybody should be supporting them much more unstintingly but I find the trade, the media, nobody is backing them.”

Anil should’ve added the audience too, for it is they who decide who should be backed. And what the audience backs is a well-made film, irrespective of the gender behind its making.

Back home, one-and-a-half-year-old grandson Vayu was waiting for him — Sonam Kapoor and husband Anand Ahuja are travelling and Vayu was staying with his grandparents. Anil explained Vayu’s comfort level with them by proudly stating, “After his parents, the third name Vayu uttered was ‘Nana’.”

The madcap promo of Crew, in the public space for a while now, has air hostesses of an airline that’s nosediving embroiled in a gold scam to stay afloat. It is, however, not directed by a Kiran Rao or a Farah Khan but by Rajesh A Krishnan, a male with a background of whacky work including Lootcase (2020), which was riotously written and directed and won him several awards.

In the past too, there have been fun films like Priyadarshan’s Garam Masala (2005) that had female flight crew. But Crew is a true cheerleader for women — Tabu, Kareena and Kriti lead the plot, they’re not arm candy for the heroes.

Despite being a home production, Sonam is not one of the hostesses on board because Crew took off when son Vayu was on his way and he naturally got priority. Anil explained with a glow, “She’s got her priorities right, she’s like Sunita. Sonam’s an amazingly different sort of person, completely emotional, a softee.” He soon ran out of adjectives.

Behind Anil’s busy schedule as a long-surviving actor, producer and family man who sometimes makes celebrity appearances, too, is his manager Jalal. Anil showed me his phone — Jalal sends him a minute-by-minute schedule. “AK to leave Ektaa’s house at 9.35pm, reach T2, sleep on flight.” When to have breakfast, when to sleep, when to get ready, when to return home. Jalal has it all down to the minute and sends AK reminders. Anil flew out of Ektaa’s house as per Jalal’s diary.

Humour seems to be in the air. After Kiran Rao’s well-made Laapataa Ladies at Farhan Akhtar and partner Ritesh Sidhwani’s Excel Entertainment, Arbaaz Khan screened his Patna Shuklla and Kunal Kemmu had a special show of his directorial debut Mudgaon Express. For Javed Akhtar, who came to Kunal’s screening with Shabana, stepping into Excel is special — he bursts with pride at what Farhan has achieved in such a short while. Kunal’s wife Soha Ali Khan was also around, aware that writing and directing humour is not a joke.

Arbaaz’s film, safely slated for an OTT outing, has several elements going for it. In this David and Goliath legal battle, it is Raveena Tandon and a young female client who play David, the underdog. It has Satish Kaushik in one of his last really refreshing appearances that has humour and heart in it. As for the double “l” in the title, Arbaaz has a history with numerology. He was told during Dabang to add a “g” — it became Dabangg and it worked. “Whether that worked or something else did, I felt I didn’t lose anything by adding an extra letter.” And so, when it came to Patna Shuklla and the advice was repea- ted, Arbaaz listened again.

Bharathi S. Pradhan is a senior journalist and author