Thank You

It's been rather quiet on the Bollywood mainstream front given the build up and subsequent hangover with India winning the Cricket World Cup, but I suppose releases will be back on track soon, with one of the earliest off the blocks being Anees Bazmee's Thank You, a typical comedy broaching on the topic of marriage infidelity starring one of the most hardworking and overexposed stars in Akshay Kumar in an ensemble together with Bobby Deol, Suniel Shetty, Irrfan Khan, Sonam Kapoor, Celina Jaitley and Rimi Sen.

So shouldn't it sound like fun, given a bevy of stars in situational set ups about philandering husbands who fool around behind their wives' backs, and having their own support group set up as credible alibis. Bobby Deol's Raj manages to fool his wife Sanjana (Sonam Kapoor) with his sweet nothings, his boss Vikram (Irrfan Khan) overpowers his submissive wife Karthika (Rimi Sen) with unreasonable demands, probably because the latter wants to continue enjoying the high life thanks to her husband's booming luxury yacht business. Then there's Suniel Shetty as Yogi, perhaps the least skillful of the lot, being caught out by wife Radha (Celina Jaitley), and also because of the latter's engagement of a private investigator Kishen (Akshay Kumar) who she introduces to Sanjana to wake the simpleton to see beyond the wool pulled over her eyes.

Honestly, the first half of the film before the interval is the stronger portion of the story, and probably where it's most fun given the interesting battle of wits premise set, even though it was not exploited to the full extent. With Radha and Sanjana reluctantly engaging Kishen's services, the latter is adamant in exposing the three husbands in one fell swoop, but discovers that the counter-brilliance of the mastermind Vikram won't make this an easy walk in the park. Strategies get employed involving technology, divide and conquer tactics to make the guys turn on one another, and frankly the set comedic pieces hit more than missed. The complication arises when the guys also engages Kishen's services, and find out that he too is a ladies man, though his loyalties, under wraps, belong to his earlier employers.

A small romantic subplot also involved Kishen and Sanjana with a hint of a conflict of interest from the get go that was cursory at best, and the remaining saving grace of the film belonged to the chemistry between Irrfan and Bobby Deol as buddies who find their lifestyle under threat. But it all spiraled downward after the interval with plenty of melodrama being poured into it such as the tired and silly suicide attempt of Sanjana at the Niagara Falls (this was partly shot in Toronto and Vancouver), and when Kishen progresses into his next role as a pseudo-marriage counsellor out to teach the guys a thing or two about fidelity, and reconciliation. However I suspect that the jokes here were less slapstick and direct, relying on funny dialogue that got lost in translation through the subtitles, which was a pity for non- Hindi speakers like myself.

Song and dance sequences were nothing to shout about unfortunately, even with Mallika Sherawat popping up as an item girl in Razia. No subtitles came with the lyrics to the songs, so I'm left to my own devices to determine what shenanigans the characters were into. Would have been a much engaging film if the second half managed to keep pace with the eclectic first, but instead opting for a more conventional approach and finale that makes you wonder why the females can't just walk out of a relationship that is already on rocky grounds no thanks to mistrust and dishonesty, lessons learnt notwithstanding.

'No thanks' would be the proper response if someone proposes that you watch this junk. Anees Bazmee has made another garbage that's not only highly offensive to women but also an insult to people's basic intelligence. Of course, I expect this from Akshay Kumar and Bazmee (who, as it seems, is incapable of making a decent film) so I would have skipped this but some of my relatives are fans of Kumar and so it was more about spending time with the family and laughing at the awfulness of 'Thank You'. While I did predict it to be awful, I thought it would be one of those so-bad that it's funny. However, the way the woman are portrayed as weak AND stupid is unforgivable. Anyway, needless to say, the writing is horrendous. Akshay Kumar is okay where acting is concerned but he offers nothing new. Irfan Khan steals the show as he reveals his comic side once again. Of the women, Rimi Sen stands out in a non-challenging role. Bobby Deol, Sonam Kapoor and Celina Jaitly are bad. Of course, like many rich Bollywood directors, Bazmee is ashamed of India, so the film is poorly shot in Canada. The songs, like in most recent Akshay Kumar films, are dreadful.

Oh well, as a viewer, I wouldn't consider myself completely blameless as I did choose to watch this trash, expecting to at least laugh a bit and poke fun but alas! No thanks to Bazmee and his team.

This was the nice Sufi film based on a romance, drama, comedy, it is much of romance and drama then comedy. A film is weak in his script as end is predictable, in-spite of end many of the incidents were also predictable. But in all the film i like the music of this movie. When akshay kumar play flute, and music came out of it was awesome and best soundtrack of the whole movie. As per this movie also contains some most drastic scenes and some drastic coincidences, this movie is also weak in its climax, but the locations of Canada are much nice to see shown in this movie. In this movie akshay kumar is shown much over-smart, over- intelligent who knows everything which is the most negative point of the movie. At last i conclude that the movie is one time watchable.

I went to watch this movie with very low expectations thinking it to be another vulgar/cheap comedy that Bollywood has been making on cheating husbands. But I was pleasantly surprised. The story is about three couples where the husbands fool their wives and have extra-marital affairs and how the wives get back at their husbands using the help of a private detective.

Needless to say, Irrfan Khan is the best in the movie. He does a good job and has a good comic timing. Other actors (Akshay Kumar, Rimi Sen, Bobby Deol)have also done a fair job. Sonam Kapoor (whom I don't like much) is tolerable. It's fun to watch and the scenes between Irrfan and Rimi are good. Not a great movie but an enjoyable one!

The Akshay Kumar-Suniel Shetty Jodi is back but wait, don't consider it as the level of Phir Hera Pheri or Awara Pagal Deewana, you'll get disappointed. Even I was disappointed to see silly comedy in this star-studded Anees bazmee movie. No doubt, Akshay is phenomenal. Apart from him and Bobby Deol, performances are weak. The first half was silly, below average story and picks up late. The second half is full of fun. Silly comedy becomes sitcom which we enjoy to watch. Female roles are very weak. Recommended to: Akshay Kumar fans. Bollywood comedy lovers. Can watch for time-pass.