'Thank God' Movie Review: A classic feel-good film

A still from the film

Thank God
U/A: Fantasy, comedy
Dir: Indra Kumar
Cast: Ajay Devgn, Sidharth Malhotra, Rakul Preet Singh
Rating: 3/5

Is intention enough to make a good movie? It's a perennial question to which cinephiles are yet to find a unanimous answer. Which brings us to this week's release - Thank God - a film that director Indra Kumar hopes to reinvent himself with. Does the film live up to his grand-size ambition? A flawed man, looking for redemption, as he hangs between life and death… For most part of the movie, it does. Since the film is designed as a funny Diwali entertainer, it does only that. There's an uproarious cameo by Kiku Sharda snuck in, some meta references to Singham with Ajay Devgn on screen, and a particularly cheeky one about Amitabh Bachchan stealing the concept of Kaun Banega Crorepati from the heavens. Despite so much effort being put into polishing the gags, the characters could be labelled one-toned at best.

Though overtly simplistic, the story still lands. The actors service the script in the most basic fashion without adding any of their natural flair to it. Imagine what that means for an actor of Devgn's calibre or for leading man Sidharth Malhotra, who is fresh off the success of his last release, Shershaah. Thank God has nothing to rave about, but it is a classic feel-good movies that preaches in the most obvious way.

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Malhotra plays Ayan Kapoor - a greedy real estate bigwig who is left down and out. He is consumed with jealousy, seeing his wife's success. He justifies his anger by calling it a rough phase. After an unfortunate accident, he lands up at the door of Hell. Devgn's Chitragupta plays a game show to decide if Ayan should die or live. The game displays his many sins, and he works on fixing his errors one step at a time.

The writers, Aakash Kaushik and Anders Matthesen, put forth some interesting points. The sequence of using expensive goodies to showcase devotion to God, instead of serving people, is fantastic. It reiterates the flaws of institutional religion. Thank God is a sanitised reflection of good and bad. That isn't the only fault with the film's writing - it lacks layers, depth, and is not saying anything more poignant than the underlined message of the film - be good and do good. The fact that the film's female lead (Rakul Preet Singh) is a goody two-shoes, feels slightly worrisome at a time when web shows are celebrating the diverse shades of female personality with more empowered stories.

The style of the film is passé. It feels like an '80s outing that cannot compete in the OTT era, neither in its messaging, nor in its design. That brings me to my first thought. Is good intention enough?

The fact that the film released on Diwali, after nearly two years of a traumatic pandemic, goes to show that perhaps revisiting the simple things of life and reassessing our karma score isn't the worst idea.

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