Crew (2024) Review

In a similar vein to Madgaon Express which also released this month, Crew is a buddy comedy about a group of friends who get in trouble with criminal elements. Crew's vibe is more sanitised, glamorous and feel-good, but it still manages to be bawdy when it feels like it.

Flight crew gang Geeta Sethi (Tabu), Jasmine Kohli (Kareena Kapoor Khan) and Divya Rana (Kriti Sanon) are all women with aspirations beyond their day jobs. Plagued by non-payment of their salaries by their ailing employer, the three bond over their situations, and dream of getting their dues to pursue their dreams.

A shock death of a crew member gets skeletons tumbling out of the closet, and the trio has to make a decision that will change their lives. But every action has a consequence, and the crew realises that they have bit off more than they can chew.

At a running time of just under two hours, Crew is a breezy comedy that borrows elements of drama and heist movies (like all mainstream entertainment in India, where we are not satisfied with one genre). Its pacing is the film's biggest strength, as the crew behind Crew makes sure we are hardly ever presented with a dull moment. Barring the first few minutes of the second half which have some turbulence, Crew is a non-stop ride for pretty much its entirety. The women are thrown into one improbable sequence into another, and willingly or unwittingly get drawn into a plot far beyond their expectations.

Even though it manages to pass the Bechdel test, the interesting thing about Crew is that it is an out-and-out entertainer that happens to have an all-female leading cast - without making a polarising political statement. Well, it does, to an extent - by showing how the ultra-rich are robbing the nation and how the middle class rises up to claim what's rightfully theirs, back. But not many people would find that to be a polarising thing, especially when you consider who Crew pokes fun at - one Vijay Walia (Saswata Chatterjee) who owns a certain Kohinoor Airlines. Yes, there are rare times when a complete lack of nuance is the winning formula!

The casting is superb, and the age gap between the three leading ladies is superbly utilised to deliver some fantastic punchlines. Tabu is the 50-something head of flight crew, who effortlessly channels her older-yet-not-quite-wiser woman avatar to steal the show. Kareena is the senior flight attendant who always has a "Plan B", while Kriti is the fairly new flight attendant whose original ambition (and training/education) was to be a pilot. All three characters tussle and play off each other's strengths and fears - but they are at their best when working together as a unit - a crew if you may.

Fun as it may be, Crew is not without its issues - the script being the biggest culprit. They say that the best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry, but if you ask the writers of Crew, women manage to not have pitfalls or obstacles to clear, and things just fall into place for them. We just wished there would have been some adversity to overcome - especially when taking on an adversary with such a massive resource superiority.

And then there are the product placements, good Lord. How insane is it that advertisers get to bother us in the middle of content THAT WE PAY TO WATCH? Zomato, Ajio, Wow Momos, Yardley - I genuinely lost count after a while of all the ads that the movie tried to seemingly "disguise" in. Please get rid of them - they are unbearable to watch.

With a laundry list of contributors to it, the movie's music is shocking to listen to since half the songs are remixes of old Ila Arun hits. There is also one expected Diljit Dosanjh song at the end, that too honestly felt like something I had listened to before.

All things considered, Crew is a decent one-time watch, a fun entertainer that ambitiously tries to pack a lot of shenanigans into its somewhat short running time. At times daring, but mostly just amusing, this is not a bad film to go out for. As for the kind of people who complain how female-centric content is too serious and political, this is the perfect antidote - small doses and all that jazz.