Director: Indra Kumar
Cast: Ajay Devgn, Sidharth Malhotra, Rakul Preet Singh, Seema Pahwa and others
Where: In theatres near you
Rating: 3
Filmmaker Indra Kumar, who has been labelled as the commercially bankable director since the '90s with films like Dil (1990), Beta (1992), Raja (1995), Ishq (1997), Mann (1999), took a huge shift in choosing a subject when Masti (2004) came out. But, his same old formula of comedy in the first half and redemption in the second half remained the same. However, Indra showed infidelity and mild obscenity that worked for the film - although Grand Masti (2013) and Great Grand Masti (2016) couldn’t turn into marketing marvels.
His comic franchise Dhamaal (2007) proved to be one of the most popular comedies back then but the second one Double Dhamaal (2011), being low on content, worked at the box office followed by the pre-pandemic laughter dose Total Dhamaal (2019) that reunited Madhuri Dixit and the filmmaker. Away from his new age ideas, Indra tries his typical formula with Thank God which is low on humour but high on gyanbaazi.
Ayaan Kapoor (Sidharth Malhotra), a struggling real estate agent, meets god CG (Ajay Devgn) and YD (Mahesh Balraj) after meeting with an accident. His life becomes adventurous when CG takes him through his life journey. What happens to Ayaan and his cop wife Ruhi (Rakul Preet Singh), Thank God unravels that.
Mounted as the comic caper, Thank God disappoints at being a festive release. Though the film has a series of strong messages throughout, that isn’t promised. The laughter is minimal and contains as much as it was shown in the trailer. It slightly cheats on the genre. Indra surely helms a socially relevant film that tells us to have gratification for life but an expected illogical no-brainer is missing, which he has been offering his audiences since the early 2000s.
Second half is tiring, dramatic and a tad bit predictable. The small twist in the pre-climax is a surprise but makes the film more malicious. The runtime of 2 hours 1 minute is the saving grace of the film. Nora Fatehi’s sultry dance moves are the highlights that distract from the boring second half of the film for a short while.
Ajay as CG (Chitragupt) has swag but his stiffness and straight face performance are nothing new. Mahesh Balraj as Yamraj has nothing much to do. Seema Pahwa’s forced expressions are funny - she is like an emoji on WhatsApp. Sidharth is pleasant on screen. Rakul Preet's sight in a film like this is questionable since she doesn’t contribute anything, literally any female actor could have pulled off this role. As I earlier mentioned while reviewing Doctor G, Rakul is Rakul in the film.
Thank God is a so-called family entertainer that is stuck in the '90s. Watch it if you are okay to expect a sob tale rather than a pure comedy.
