Crew (2024) – Somewhat bittersweet

Genre – Drama, Comedy (Dramedy?)

Time: 2 Hours

Director: Rajesh Krishnan

Platform: Theatrical Release (Soon on Netflix)

Divya Rana (Kriti Sanon) is a pilot turned air hostess who has concealed the truth from her family that she didn’t get a job as a pilot but only as an air hostess. Jasmine Kohli (Kareena Kapoor Khan) is long used to living life on the edge, but she wants is to start a beauty brand. The Senior of the trio Geeta Sethi (Tabu) is struggling to make ends meet as her husband’s restaurant had crashed and he is now struggling with a takeaway business, operating from their home. Everyone has EMIs to pay, yet they dream of living the high life in luxury hotels and clubs. Their airlines Kohinoor is rumored to be going bankrupt, but the HR manager Mittal (Rajesh Sharma) and TV interviews of the owner Vijay Walia, assures them it’s not so.

An opportunity presents itself when their flight supervisor dies and is found carrying gold biscuits taped to his body. The customs carry out an enquiry but the ‘new’ Customs Commissioner Jai Veer (Daljeet Dosanj) who has a history with Divya, lets them go.

Divya is the only one who wonders why the gold is being smuggled OUT of the country rather than IN. The answer soon becomes apparent. The airline owner (hear hear) Vijay Walia (Saswata Chatterjee) declares bankruptcy and the trio are at their wits’ end. They are worried about how to survive. Or are they?

The story is bittersweet and keeps in mind the expectations of the audience that the trio won’t take this mess lying down (unlike their real-life counterparts who faced many crises but let’s not spoil things, right? 😉). The women are much in charge of their lives and yet they are railing against fate and the gods who test their mettle with one problem after another thrown at them.

The men in their lives are incidental. For Geeta, it’s her husband Arun’s (a subdued Kapil Sharma) catering business. Jasmin is worried about her grandfather while Divya is still wondering what lie to say next to cover her earlier ones. Each care about their family but is worried about how the airline’s collapse will affect them. Its almost like the men have been emasculated by 21st century and there are only two types – unemployed/ useless types or the robber barons like Vijay Walia (every time I write this, I smirk at this very subtle reference by the scriptwriters).

The script is pretty much straightforward. The first scene establishes that, despite enduring various trials and tribulations that may or may not be relatable to the average person, they will achieve success in the end. If one thinks of the old Basu Chatterjee or Hrishikesh Mukherjee films, one could relate to the deglamourized onscreen characters. With Crew perhaps that’s the issue – the characters live the glamour life and the actors also look glamorous; it is surely a reflection of modern sensibilities of everyone wanting a five star life and why not! If Vijay Walia can successfully steal from banks and the public, why can’t the trio take a share of his hidden loot?

The script wavers between making the trio black,and then white, and then grey, and finally settles for white. They are, after all Hindi film heroines who will do what is right and yet keep it all together.

One of the genuinely funny scenes is right at the film’s end when Walia’s spoiled rotten daughter turns down one plate after another of the in-flight cuisine in the private jet as “too orangey” “too green” “too watery” and so on. (which brought the giggles from the audience. I saw it in an afternoon show and roughly 60% of the audience were women who giggled at the appropriate intervals. No roaring laughter.)

It attempts to be a feel-good movie about three women facing challenging lives, but what we witness on screen are three beautiful actresses delivering a satisfactory performance. And perhaps that’s the problem with the film – the glamour quotient overshadows the ‘middle class’ background of the characters.  The script, dialogue, and humor could have been improved, but it’s still acceptable.

Two Ila Arun songs are used as the background score – the (in)famous ‘Choli ke peechey kya hai” and “Ghagra’ . They keep coming in at odd times and even distract from the on-screen happenings. Perhaps the songs are an audio commentary for the “in-your-face”behavior of the characters – sort of take me as I am or leave off. The performances are competent and all the Hindi expletives have been muted. (the audience giggled at the muted expletives)

A ‘feel good’ movie which fits well with the modern sensibilities of ‘go and make your own luck’.  Personally I would have been happy if the trio had vanished into the blue yonder and are seen enjoying the five star life in Turks and Caicos  which would have been more realistic with the message – crime does pay (but that’s just me 🙂 )

Script – 3 out of 5

Story – 3 out of 5

Direction – 3 out of 5

Total – 3 out of 5