EXCLUSIVE: Crew director Rajesh Krishnan BREAKS silence on CBFC changing ‘C*****e’ to ‘Bhootiye’; reveals that when Aamir Khan called him, he thought it was a prank: “My mother asked me, ‘Are you sure you have abused your friend (and not the real Aamir)?’”

Crew is all set to hit theatres this Friday, March 29. Talented filmmaker Rajesh Krishnan, who wowed the audience with the 2020 comic caper Lootcase, exclusively spoke with Bollywood Hungama about working with Kareena Kapoor Khan, Tabu and Kriti Sanon, the hit songs of the film, censor issues and a lot more.

Lootcase couldn’t make it in cinemas due to the pandemic. Crew, however, will arrive in theatres. How do you feel? I feel very elated. With Lootcase, we had seen the film in cinemas. We even did a tech check. But then it was pulled off from theatres at the last minute. So, with Crew, I am trying to stay away from all the tech checks. I don’t want to harm it with my luck (laughs).

Your recent statement ‘To me, Kareena, Tabu and Kriti are no different from Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan and Aamir Khan’ has caught a lot of attention… Come to think of it. Three stalwarts have come under one roof. It’s a great achievement on our part. Tabu started in the 90s. Kareena debuted in the year 2000 with Refugee. And Kriti started her career 10 years ago. So, we have actresses from three different decades. Once you see the film, it’s hard to tell who is younger than the other! They competed in being more fun.

Were Kareena Kapoor Khan, Tabu and Kriti Sanon the original choices? Yes, this is what the original choices were. You’ll see the way we have written (keeping the three in mind). We couldn’t have written it for a certain set of actors and gotten somebody else to play those parts. Once we were certain that we were going ahead with these actors, we sat with the writers (to work on their strengths in the script). Like what kind of storytelling would they fit in, what clothes they’d like to wear as characters, what idiosyncrasies they possess etc. Sitting down with actors and working on these aspects is so much more fun.

Ekta Kapoor said an interesting aspect about Crew is that the film is gender-agnostic. It could have also had three male leads instead of female… Very well said. I have been saying this too. I don’t know who stole the line from whom – did we steal it from her or she did?! This story could have had three men in a peculiar situation. But what made it interesting for me was when it had three females. I am not saying women are weaker by any stretch. But for example, the characters in Charlie’s Angels are trained for hostile situations. But in Crew, we have three air hostesses who are far removed from the reality in which they get into. They have to now visibly rise to the occasion. I found myself rooting for them. I was even concerned that they should not lose their battle.

In both Lootcase and Crew, you focus on the financial problems faced by the aam junta. Did your middle-class upbringing inspire this aspect in your films? Well, you can only tell stories that you have lived (smiles). If I haven’t seen how the super-rich live, it’s very hard for me to tell the story convincingly. I got to live that life. I was born and raised in Goregaon, Mumbai. I have lived a life where if you see a little bit of money, you start imagining that you will shift to Bandra! So yeah, I had a humble upbringing. We used to go downstairs to play cricket and the characters I have grown up with, I can write another 25 scripts and still, there would be more tales to tell!

The songs of Crew have worked big time. How did the team crack the soundtrack? What’s the secret? It’s all thanks to Rhea Kapoor. She has a great sense of music, as evident by songs in all her movies. She works extra hard on this aspect. She auditions and samples songs for a very long time. As makers, we also want the record label to get their fair share. Let’s accept that songs have become a great tool for marketing today. It’s almost like a visiting card to your film! The songs also give you a glimpse of what the film looks like.

Also, once when we got Diljit Dosanjh on board, it was as big as it gets. I don’t know what the man will do next. I don’t know anybody at that level. Don’t we all feel proud when he performed at Coachella?

As for ‘Choli’, it was a musical coup that Rhea pulled off with Kumar Taurani ji of Tips. He was generous enough to give the rights to the song. He told Rhea that for years, people have been asking him for the rights and he felt comfortable giving the rights to her as he knew that she’d do justice to the track!

In Crew, the character of Vijay Walia reminds one of Vijay Mallya. Also, the name of the airline is Kohinoor which also reminds one of Kingfisher Airlines… We are just having fun with the name. Initially, the character was called something else. Then we finalized Vijay Walia. If there was a pun intended, I am not sure! Of course, it does have an obvious hint to that (Vijay Mallya).

Kohinoor, however, was a pure coincidence. We had a good 45-50 names that we had in mind for the airline company. Kohinoor, however, felt correct as the name sounds Indian and also international since the Koh-i-Noor diamond is a part of the Crown in England. Hence, I don’t think Kohinoor has anything to do with Kingfisher.

As per reports, ‘C*****e’ has been changed to ‘Bhootiye’ by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC). Many were disappointed since the impact of the word ‘C*****e’ is far more, especially the way Tabu says it. Did you and the makers try to convince the CBFC to retain ‘C*****e’?  These are the things that you can appeal to the CBFC. Am I happy about the change? No, I am not. Would I like to go back to the original word? Most definitely. But at the same time, I understand where they are coming from. Their rationale is that if they allow the word in our film, others would also make similar demands. Those who had to change the word in the past will come forward to make their displeasure clear. Hence, it’s a difficult conversation. And anyway, they asked for very few changes. Mr Anil Kapoor, the producer, also suggested that we should go ahead with the changes asked. The Censors have also allowed some of the dialogues, which you’ll see in the film. So, overall, they have been fair.

After the release of Lootcase, Aamir Khan called and you thought somebody was playing a prank on you. Since he might call you again after watching Crew, I hope you have saved his number! (Laughs) It was a very embarrassing moment for me. I thought somebody was pulling a prank as most of my friends are capable of doing so! My mom was a witness to the conversation. She had her doubts. She asked me, ‘Are you sure you have abused your friend (and not the real Aamir)?’. Aamir then said that he’d do a video call. And it actually turned out to be Mr Aamir Khan. So, as you can see, I was deeply embarrassed.

But he was sweet enough to ask for the numbers of all the technicians who worked on the film. He sent a nice message to all of them, in which he even mentioned ‘I look forward to the opportunity of working with you’. A man of his stature doesn’t have to do that. A lot of technicians were so moved that they put a screenshot of his message on Facebook. I told some of them, ‘Kya kar raha hai? Yeh personal message hai’. They replied, ‘Aisa kitna time hoyega life mein?’!

There’s a lot of demand for Lootcase 2… I have been hearing that too. I don’t want to announce a sequel for the heck of it. We need to have a story in place. We worked on the script of the first part for almost two years. If we get a strong enough story, we’ll definitely make Lootcase 2. Or else, making a sequel without a great plot will be unfair to the audience. I get that feeling when I see a lot of franchise movies.

And what about Crew 2? We just have to wait and watch. Again, it all depends on a promising plot. Also, I feel the attempt should be to make your sequel better than the first part. There are very few films where the second part is better than the first.

What next? There are a ton of things that we are working on. We have a couple of series ideas which we have started pitching. We also have film scripts in the comedy thriller space.

Also Read: Kareena Kapoor Khan and Kriti Sanon have pizza party on the sets of Crew in new behind-the-scenes video

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