Crew hindi movie review: Tabu, very comfy in in her elder woman role, and Kareena Kapoor Khan, treading the thin line between greed and need with ease, are a laugh riot; Kriti Sanon, in their company, is not overshadowed by them.
Three women, struggling to keep their just keep themselves afloat, shucking and jiving and diving, while keeping it all fast and having fun, and making us enjoy this process.
Geeta Sethi (Tabu), Jasmine Bajwa (Kareena Kapoor Khan) and Divya Rana (Kriti Sanon) are part of the crew at Kohinoor Airlines, clearly based on our real-life Kingfisher Airlines, whose chairman (Saswata Chatterjee), is an even more clearly a stand-in for the runaway billionaire Vijay Mallya. The hindi film Crew’s writers, Nidhi Mehra and Mehul Suri, don’t bother too much about doing hiding, calling their character, Vijay Walia, who does a runner, declaring bankruptcy, leaving thousands of employees in the lurch.
As in a caper-cum-heist, lots of characters show up as and when required. That goes for the men who sportingly bring up the rear, leaving the ladies to forge ahead. Arun Sethi (Kapil Sharma) is a home-chef, whose dream is to have his own restaurant in Goa. Jasmine is a girl who always wants more, always eyeing that LV bag and the Beemer, even as her beloved grandpa (Kulbhushan Kharbanda) goes on and on about the things that really matter. And ‘Divya Rana from Haryana’, as the smitten customs officer Jaiveer (Diljit Dosanjh) calls her, is a liar but good at it. Both Sharma, who has shown that he can be a fine actor, and Dosanjh, oozing his brand of grounded sexiness, are really good: they know their place.
All illegal activities like suitcases full of gold bars, take place in Al Burj, which clearly stands-in for Dubai. Our trio of leading ladies jump in, and surely the come across the long arm of the law. Will they go to jail or will they escape.
The hindi movie crew’s writers Nidhi Mehra and Mehul Suri make it a point to keep everything brisk and sometimes like a sitcom, without making us think that the characters are clowning around. The emotional scenes are not that touchy, Like when an air-hostess (Pooja Bhamrrah) who has lost all hope of getting her hard earned money from the runaway Walia, Assisted by his henchman (Rajesh Sharma), has he child sent out of school due to non payment of fees.
For God’s Sake why did the producers have to have so many product placements in such fake surroundings, when the movie was going along good.
Fortunately, our ladies come to the rescue: Tabu, so comfortable in her older woman avatar as the senior-most of the crew, and Kareena Kapoor Khan, treading the thin line between greed and need with ease, are a riot; Kriti Sanon, in their company, is boosted, and manages to hold her own. These actors have a lived-in feel, as if they really have done dozens of flights together: they bicker and banter, unafraid of speaking their minds, fully owning their age (cue ‘layers of foundation not hiding the years’ jokes), as well as their bawdiness and vulnerabilities, channelling both glamour and grime, and are the kind of women our movies need more of.
Seeing these three air hostesses in a smooth comedy movie, with many chuckles to be enjoyed is one of the most fun movies to release recently among all the cloudy ones.
Indian Hindi language movie Crew is directed by Rajesh A Krishnan and Produced by Shobha Kapoor, Rhea Kapoor, Anil Kapoor and Ekta Kapoor, Distributed by Reliance Entertainment with a budget of Rs.40 Crore was released on 29th March 2024.
Crew movie cast: Tabu, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Kriti Sanon, Diljit Dosanjh, Rajesh Sharma, Saswata Chatterjee, Kapil Sharma, Pooja Bhamrrah, Kulbhushan Kharbanda
Crew movie director: Rajesh A Krishnan
Crew movie OTT: Netflix