Thank You (2011)

I used to be a Akshay Kumar fan up until last year but the recent flurry of films with poor acting, poor scripts and already done jokes and sequences have turned me around. This is just another one in the series if not the worst, well worst would be Tees Maar Khan but this is no better. Good thing it was free on Netflix but I still wasted 2 hours of my Friday. It starts bad, stays bad and ends the same way, the songs are mediocre at best, the script has been done a dozen times before, not even a single scene where you would laugh on your own, mostly forced jokes and poor sequences are irritating sometimes, towards the end of it you just wish it ends quickly and you can get over with it. The only saving grace in the movie is Irfan and towards the end, it gets too much for even him to drag the movie, given the limited footage he has in the movie.

A dyed hair and old over the hill Akshay! Dyed so black like its a new color! And his voice and dialog delivery is sickening. Pathetic acting like he is being sarcastic! Then you have Shetty with his fish out of water dialog delivery. And Irfan Khan (well, one 'r' is enough) who is one of the most overrated actor. And John Abraham etc are criticized for being dull and bland. Irfan is monotonous and at the most has two expressions and simply drones with the confidence that he has made a fool of everyone in b and h woods! Looks like a dummy in the promos and that extends to the film! Create a montage of scenes from his different films and u will know you are looking at a one dimensional dud! even in his infamous mms he had a blank look! As for the heroines less said the better. Cheap dialogs and the best part was a promo showing (only the) female audience praising the film after a sneak preview! A desperate attempt by Akshay to declare this one a hit like Blue and Kambakht Ishq! Mr Kumar if you are doing characters which are meant to be leave alone in their 20s even early 30s then you don't look it! And that's why your films are bombing! Worth missing.

Hail Irrfan Khan and his comic timing.It's not thank you . it's re-entry. Just the same successful formula of 'no entry' has been repeated. While making a lol entertainer it goes beyond it realms and ridicules the sanctity of relationships and marriages. In it's account of relationships it seems to be very one sided. But an objective look at relationship can never be expected from Anees Bazmee. The movie does what was expected from it - makes you laugh real hard. A large share of laughs come for Irrfan's performance. He proves once again his mantle and versatility in acting. His comic timing is phenomenal. The kind which Akshay kumar once showed in Mujse shadi Karogi. But as it has been for quite some time his performance seems repetitive. As for others, bobby acts bad as usual, Suniel overacts as usual again. Sonam kaoor irritates with cardboard character. Reema sen surprises with her quirkiness. Celia jaitley is hardly there. Songs are just burden as usual yet again. The ending goes overboard and tries to make a pigheaded soulless movie into a serious inquisition into relationships and fails miserably. The only low point of movie comes at the end.This movie just belongs to Irrfan's incredible comic timing and Anees Bazmee's ability to pen funny insincere jokes. A timepass. :)

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.