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‘Crew’ Soars with Tabu, Kareena, and Kriti in Heist Comedy

The owner of the airlines is Vijay Walia (Saswat Chatterjee). No prizes for guessing who he is modelled on!) Vijay Mallya, the ex-chairman of Kingfisher — a brand of that offered a line of beverages and an airline group — fled India for the UK…reports Asian Lite News

Hindi cinema has not written very many lead female characters who have careers, although to be fair to scriptwriters, many of the roles for women have been full of substance. And depth.

It is thoroughly interesting therefore to walk into a movie that is about the story of not one but three diligent friends who are working as cabin crew for the fictional Kohinoor Airlines.

Director Rajesh Krishnan helms a 122-minute joy ride in his heist comedy film Crew starring Tabu, Kareena Kapoor Khan and Kriti Sanon playing the leads.

Until their peaceful lives take a dramatic turn, all seems to be fine with the three rather glamorous women — Geetu (Tabu), Jasmine Kohli (Kapoor Khan) and Divya Rana (Sanon), who are a part of an airline crew aged between the 20s and the 40s — when they are unexpectedly caught in a difficult situation orchestrated by someone with ulterior motives. Now, they are trapped in a never-ending struggle, desperately trying to break free.

The owner of the airlines is Vijay Walia (Saswat Chatterjee). No prizes for guessing who he is modelled on!) Vijay Mallya, the ex-chairman of Kingfisher — a brand of that offered a line of beverages and an airline group — fled India for the UK.

Walia in the film leads a luxurious life and cons his way all the way while all along putting up a respectable front that commands tremendous admiration and deference.

The airlines staff hasn’t been paid for a year and the three women — as also other 4,000 members of the company — increasingly get impatient. A young mother cries her heart out to share that her daughter’s school fees has not been paid and that the school principal may rusticate the child.

Geeta has been the bread winner in her family while her loving husband Arun (Kapil Sharma) lives off her. As their in-flight supervisor, she is older than the rest, is tired of working so hard and is waiting for her provident fund to be cleared so that they move to Goa and start life afresh as a restaurateur.

Senior flight attendant Jasmine bonds well with her maternal grandfather (Kulbhushan Kharbanda) after her parents passed away. A sucker for life and money, she dreams of a life that’s rosy all the way. Divya Rana (Sanon) is the most educated of the lot and is a trained pilot.

When recession hit the world, she had to settle for a job as a flight attendant though she lies to her family that she has a job as a captain with the airlines. They all work very hard and their daily woes turn all the more unbearable when they don’t get their due on time.

Things hit rock bottom when they discover that their debt-ridden airline is on the verge of bankruptcy. And the three desperate women look for desperate measures to survive and fulfil their aspirations. for survival.

And they resort to crime.

The best part of the storyline credited to Nidhi Mehra and Mehul Suri is the element of unapologetic behaviour of the three who by the way, could pass of as sexy ramp models.

But they are not dishonest; they seem to be go-getters, if at all. Behaving as outrageously nonchalant, blunt and unrepentant as any Smart-alecky man would be their age, they can take on the might of anyone- man or woman to prove their righteous mind.

What’s more, they have fun all the time. Visiting pubs in their free time, shopping and cracking jokes countering sexism with loaded and equally offensive fun repartees, they live to the full.

Although, make no mistake, underneath the cheery upbeat narrative lies the handling of serious middle-class issues that all families face in our country. Be it the woman feeding her jobless brother and husband or the need for a single woman to find the right match to live with, all are mentioned in passing albeit while driving home a point.

Powerhouse performer Tabu, the veteran among the three, is not seen in too many of these light-hearted frothy films. She, like the other two, has a lot of fun and holds her own wonderfully well. Kareena too looks ravishing and performs with a dare-me-not attitude. Sanon gets a lot of action too and nails it with her spunkiness, not to mention her drop-dead gorgeous looks.

To be fair to the men, both Kapil Sharma as Tabu’s gentle understanding but jobless husband, and Diljeet Dosanjh as the customs officer Jai Singh Rathor who studied in the same school as Divya, have clearly defined roles to play.

That Sharma is a fine actor too, besides a great standup has already been proven in Nandita Das’ ‘Zwigato’. Here, he has a special appearance but manages to leave a mark. Chatterjee and Dossanjh are both well-cast and acquit themselves well.

The technical aspects of the film are first-rate. Anuj Rakesh Dhawan’s cinematography gives us the believable feel of the insides of an aircraft as much as the razzmatazz of bars and cafes fills our eyes.

Songs by Diljeet, Badshaah, Romy, Shrushti Tawade and others that are catchy and foot-tapping. One of veteran duo Laxmikant Pyarelal’s old hits, “Choli ke peechhe kya hai”, and Ila Arun’s “Ghaghra” as remakes are already chartbusters.

The film has its wild moments throughout, but after taking off with a lot of promise, it slides to a tepid landing. Nevertheless, it’s honest, breezy and a joyride!

Film: Crew Duration: 122 minutes

Director: Rajesh A Krishnan Cast: Tabu, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Kriti Sanon, Kapil Sharma Diljeet Dosanjh and Saswat Chatterjee

Music: John Stewart Eduri Cinematography: Anuj Rakesh Dhawan

Duration: 122 minutes

Rating: ***

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Kriti to try different genres in 2022

She credits her last year’s release ‘Mimi’ for giving her the strength to take on more risks…reports Asian Lite News

Kriti Sanon, will be seen in five films in 2022 all of which belong to different genres thereby allowing her to push the boundaries with her work.

She credits her last year’s release ‘Mimi’ for giving her the strength to take on more risks.

Reflecting on the year gone by, Kriti says, “2021 was an amazing year professionally. The kind of love that ‘Mimi’ got has been extremely overwhelming and has not only made me more confident as an actor to take risks but has also made me hungrier to push the envelope further”.

Looking forward to having more experimenting roles in the coming year, the actress shares, “What excites me more is the fact that all these projects belong to completely different genres and worlds. So there’s a lot to look forward to in 2022!”

Next on the cards for the actress are several big-ticket releases like ‘Adipurush’ with Prabhas, ‘Bachchan Pandey’ with Akshay Kumar, ‘Ganapath’ with Tiger Shroff, ‘Bhediya’ with Varun Dhawan and ‘Shehzada’ with Kartik Aaryan.

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Kriti speaks on challenges over 12 years career

I felt I had achieved something that I never thought would be possible. That feeling drove me back to the pole time and again.”…Kriti speaks with Ahana Bhattacharya.

Bollywood stars like to stay healthy and as their fitness and look is very much associated with the career. Pole dancing is not just about fitness for actress Kriti Kharbanda. It works as meditation for her, too.

“Today it has become a part of not just my fitness, but also my meditation. Pole dancing is not just a physical act but extremely meditative, because you have to concentrate 100 per cent or else you will fall and injure yourself badly,” Kriti told.

Kriti recently stunned netizens with a pole dancing video she shared on Instagram. What motivated her to take it up?

The “Housefull 4” actress replied: “When I signed Housefull, I needed to get into shape. The first pole dancing class that I went for, I thought my arm was going to fall off, my legs were bruised. But when I came home, I felt I had achieved something that I never thought would be possible. That feeling drove me back to the pole time and again.”

While the actress says pole dancing is something which she purely does for herself, she wouldn’t mind displaying her skills in a film if required.

“Honestly, pole dancing is the one thing I do for me. I didn’t learn or get into pole dancing with the agenda that I should have a skill and I should be able to perform. But having said that, I wouldn’t say no to an opportunity if it really appeals to me, I would love to do it on the screen,” she informed.

Kriti recently completed 12 years in Bollywood. Quizzed what are the challenges she faced and her overall experience, the actress replied: “I stared off extremely young and naive. While 12 years feels like a long time, for me it has just flown by. I have learnt and gained a lot and am grateful for it. The only challenge that I faced, sometimes when things don’t work your way, you tend to question your capability. The last four or five years have been not just productive and extremely fruitful, I am proud of where I stand today and proud of all the struggles and difficulties that I faced.”

On the work front, Kriti will next be seen in the digital film “14 Phere”.

Talking about the film, she said: “14 Phere is a very relevant social family comedy drama. It has got a little bit of everything. From the film’s poster, which shows a roka ceremony, it might appear to be a simple love story. But that’s clearly not the case, everything is going to be very twisted. It is a very interesting film that you can sit and watch with your family.”

In the film, Kriti plays a girl called Aditi, who is in love with Sanjay, played by Vikrant Massey.

Opening up on her on-screen chemistry with her co-star, Kriti shared: “Vikrant is a really fun co-star. I think when you work with someone and the chemistry is right and you get along, it translates beautifully on the screen. I watched the film very recently when we were dubbing and I realised that these two characters are going to strike a chord with the audiences. I don’t think that’s possible till you don’t have a really good co-star! I believe he’s the perfect Sanjay to my Aditi and I’m happy to have got the opportunity to work with him.”

“14 Phere” is scheduled to drop on Zee5.

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Kriti wraps up ‘Bhediya’ shoot

Varun too, posted a message for Kriti on his Instagram page…reports Asian Lite News.

“Bhediya” is said to be part of Producer Dinesh Vijan’s ‘horror universe’. Kriti Sanon has wrapped up her shoot for the upcoming supernatural film “Bhediya”. The actress announced the shooting update on her Instagram account.
The actress was shooting in the town of Ziro, Arunachal Pradesh, with co-star Varun Dhawan. She uploaded a couple of pictures with Varun.

“And its a schedule wrap for me in Ziro for #BHEDIYA! From Dilwale to Bhediya and all the years of friendship in between, we’ve come a long way @varundvn Gonna miss you, the captain of our pack @amarkaushik and the entire Wolfpack See you guys soon!! And bye bye Ziro,” she wrote.

Varun too, posted a message for Kriti on his Instagram page.

Uploading the same pictures, he captioned: “Kya lagti hain hai Raaba Bahut maaza ayaa apka saath @kritisanon #wolfpack. It’s a sched wrap for kriti on #BHEDIYA as we say bye to ziro. Will miss you both.”

The film is directed by Amar Kaushik and brings back Varun and Kriti after their 2015 film “Dilwale”.

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