Crew’s control
As Crew breaches the ₹100 crore mark, Tabu opens up about her work and staying relevant to audiences
Comedies are always alive on set and things change according to actors since it is not an intensely dramatic script
The Hindi heist comedy Crew, which breached the ₹100crore mark at the box office recently, dispelled notions that post pandemic, only malecentric action dramas could rake in big numbers.
Standing tall at the centre of the film’s success is actor Tabu, who shared the screen with Kareena Kapoor and Kriti Sanon in director Rajesh Krishnan’s film produced by Rhea Kapoor, Ekta Kapoor and Anil Kapoor. “The film had several elements that the audience enjoyed and while working on it, I believed it would do good numbers,” says Tabu.
She should know. Crew is the latest in her series of hits, after Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 and Drishyam 2. She also played the central parts in Kuttey, Bholaa and the Netflix original film, Khufiya. At 52, the actor is quietly showing how a female actor can be age and generation agnostic, and call the shots.
Tell her that a few trade pundits have pointed out that she is the only actor, apart from Shah Rukh Khan and Ranbir Kapoor, to have delivered more than two hits post pandemic and she guffaws, “So I have now become a hero?”
She then pauses and says, “Honestly, this is a good chapter in my career; I am happy and grateful that people are coming to theatres and watching my films. A film is a combination of aspects — it is never only the script, the director or the actors. Everything has to work; if we give the audience something new, they will accept it in any genre and language.”
Faith in normalcy
The last decade has seen Tabu reinventing herself. Post director Vishal Bhardwaj’s acclaimed Haider, in which she delivered a sublime performance, the more mainstream films such as Drishyam, Andhadhun and De De Pyaar De, among others, saw her frequently courting box office success.
Tabu remembers the conversations during lockdowns when the film industry wondered if the audience would frequent theatres again, after being habituated to consuming series and films on digital platforms. “People were making assumptions overnight and it annoyed me. I used to wonder if I am the only one who does not agree with their notion.”
Reverting to Crew, which has been witnessing girl gangs heading to theatres to soak in the fun locker room conversations between the three female leads as they pull off an improbable heist, Tabu says, “Rhea (Kapoor) was intelligent and smart to get this cast together. Certain scripts can only work with certain actors. The casting can bring in a new element.”
Crew was written by Nidhi Mehra and Mehul Suri and many of the zinger lines hit the mark.
Some of the lines, Tabu reveals, were improvised on set. “Nidhi and Mehul had worked on the writing for four years and were particular about what they wanted. In consultation with the director and the writers, I changed a few words that I felt would not land well and generate laughs. Comedies are always alive on set and things change according to actors since it is not an intensely dramatic script.” She describes how the core team observed the mood on the sets to gauge if the comedy was working. “Accordingly, original lines were retained or changed.”
Tabu wanted the different facets of her character, Geeta Sethi, to come through. “She is fun but there is gravitas to her. She is a former beauty queen (of Karnal),
has seen the vagaries of life and has inner strength; to the best of my abilities I tried to bring all that on screen.”
The character is also prone to anxiety, popping pills and wiping away sweat in crucial situations and all this adds to the comedy. The trick was to find the sweet spot that made Geeta appear innocent, vulnerable but daring enough to be part of a heist. “We kept experimenting… we wanted to make her interesting, entertaining and palatable.”
Of late, she has been having a blast playing characters that are not too serious or grim as in Chandni Bar, Astitva, The Namesake, Maqbool or Haider. And yet, in films such as Andhadhun, Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2, Drishyam 2 and Crew, she is central to the drama. “This is a great phase of a different kind. The responsibility and what I need to bring to the table does not change irrespective of whether it is a serious or a fun film.”
Staying relevant
Having been a part of cinema for nearly 40 years (she debuted as a child actor in the 1985 film Hum Naujawan), Tabu has the knack of keeping abreast with changes.
“It is tough to point out what has worked. It is a combination of factors — the years of work and the relationship I share with the audience across generations. You are considered relevant only if you can connect with the immediate younger generation.”
Up next is Auron Mein Dum Tha, a love story by director Neeraj Pandey, in which Tabu shares the screen with Ajay Devgn for the 11th time. “It is a film I am looking forward to. Neeraj has done something interesting.”