Thank You

Cast: Akshay Kumar,Sonam Kapoor,Bobby Deol,Suniel Shetty,Celina Jaitly,Irrfan Khan,Rimi Sen

Director: Anees Bazmee

New Delhi, April 4 (IANS) After doing a cricket-based drama "Patiala House", Bollywood star Akshay Kumar is back on thebig screend with multi-starter comedy "Thank You", a funny take on extra-marital affairs. The film releases Friday. Produced by UTV Motion Pictures and Hari Om Productions, the film is about three married men trying to have some fun outside their marriages. Apart from Akshay the film stars Bobby Deol, Irrfan Khan, Suniel Shetty, Rimi Sen, Celina Jaitly and Sonam Kapoor. In the film, three best friends and business partners Raj (Bobby), Yogi (Suniel) and Vikram (Irrfan) are portrayed as womanizers. Their wives are clueless about their husbands cheating on them with every pretty girl they lay their eyes on. However, their supposedly happening world is rocked when Raj's wife Sanjana (Sonam) begins to suspect her husband and hires a private detective, Kishan (Akshay) to keep an eye on him.

Kishan has built his reputation as a man who saves marriages by getting philandering husbands to mend their ways. However, in this particular case, Kishan gets into trouble when he falls in love with Sanjana, which means he may not be acting in her best interest. Soon follows a crazy cat and mouse game, where Kishan tries to catch the husbands red-handed. Directed by Anees Bazmee, who has given hits comic capers like "No Entry", "Singh Is Kinng" and "Welcome", "Thank You" promises some really ribtickling moments. It was originally suppose to star Katrina Kaif, but Sonam later stepped in. Since the film is on infidelity, it has some steamy scenes and scorchy dance numbers. But Bobby refused to do some dance moves. Mallika Sherawat is doing an item number "Razia" in the film. A re-mixed version of "Pyaar do pyaar lo" from "Jaanbaaz" has been used in the film, where Akshay, Bobby, Irrfan and Suneil were supposed to dance on the song shot in a night club with women dressed in bikinis.

One of the dance steps had the boys spanking the dancers on their buttocks, but Bobby flatly refused to the dance step and he was not comfortable with it. However, the song is already popular among music buffs as it can be frequently heard on radio stations. The film has been extensively shot in the exotic locales of Toronto, Vancouver and Ontario. The film's storyline reminds one of Indra Kumar's 2004 comedy "Masti" that had Vivek Oberoi, Riteish Deshmukh and Aftab Shivdasani. It did good business. Bazmee's last release "No Problem" failed to rake in the moolah at the box-office. Similarly, Akshay's "Patiala House" also proved to be a dud. Going by the promos, one would have expected that 'Thank You' is yet another Akshay Kumar dominated show where he gets the best scenes and dialogues for himself while hogging all the limelight. However what one sees is Akshay being one of the driving factors here instead of being the sole actor who is carrying the entire film's weight. Of course he is the key to the entire movement of the film's narrative but then Suniel Shetty, Bobby Deol and Irrfan Khan are not mere peripherals here; they traverse a much greater distance.

Cards are laid out at the very beginning of the film with Rimi Sen and Celina Jaitly realising that their flirtatious husbands (Irrfan Khan and Suniel Shetty respectively) could well have taken Bobby Deol in their wings. They warn Bobby's unsuspecting wife Sonam about this who reluctantly agrees to hire the services of private detective Akshay Kumar. While Akshay goes on to find ways to expose the erring husbands, they have their own plans. They instead reach out to Akshay and hire his services to find the identity of the man who is out to expose them.

There is ample scope for the other actors in the film as well which means that Suniel Shetty as well as Irrfan Khan get numerous moments to excel. In fact Suniel makes the most out of it and goes about enticing laughter in practically each of his scenes. Watch out for the scene where he is caught red handed by his wife. Or later when he plots revenge against Irrfan and Bobby. The trio is also brilliant in the best scene of the film which is set on a balcony and comes soon after the song 'Razia'. As a chauvinist, Irrfan Khan brings the house down with his one liners. His deadpan dialogue delivery and a body language which is still, yet so effective, works wonders. Watch out for the extreme transition he goes through from someone being over confident to a meek man in the later part of the film.

Bobby doesn't have many comic scenes to his credit and he primarily excels when entrusted with a few dramatic moments. He is decent, though not the kind of scene stealer that Suniel or Irrfan turn out to be. Sonam looks pretty and does a decent job in a role that requires her to be sad for most part of the film. Celina surprisingly disappears after a couple of scenes. In fact Rimi has a much meatier role and she displays her very good comic timing all over again, something that she had demonstrated quite well in her earlier films like 'Hungama' and 'Dhoom'. As for Akshay Kumar, he truly is the soul of the film. He neither tries to be an over smart a la 'Tees Maar Khan', doesn't behave like 'Mr. Know it all' and definitely doesn't play a flirt. In fact he keeps it all under control while taking a balanced approach without being loud at all. The point where he excels though is the one in the climax where he delivers an emotional speech on infidelity and why women are far superior than men. Any points where the film falters? A few moments in the first half and the beginning of the second half when comic moments tend to vanish. Also Akshay's back-story, though relevant, comes a little too late by which time one is rather expecting the film to end. The King (played by Mukesh Tiwari) angle seems forced and could have been more effective. The action sequences are just about okay as well when one would have rather expected them to be far more thrilling. Climax is predictable as well and makes one remember the last (wedding) scene of 'Break Ke Baad', which again wasn't the most original of all.

Nevertheless, 'Thank You' works as a package where it carries a message in addition to entertainment. Since the film is a clean family entertainer, it has the potential to expand its boundaries and find good audience for itself. Considering the fact that audience has been starved of any major film for weeks now and there is a fortnight ahead with minimal competition, 'Thank You' should find itself in the safety zone pretty soon and then also go on to make decent moolah for it's makers. Bollywood seems to be undergoing times of rehashing. While some filmmakers are remaking films, some are plainly encasing songs of yesteryears to create some hype around their film. Anees Bazmee's latest release Thank You has it all. The film is not only lifted in bits and pieces from Anees's previous films like No Entry or No Problem but also has resemblance to films on infidelity like Biwi No.1, Masti, Shaadi No 1 etc. Moreover, Anees also packs in an item number featuring Mallika Sherawat and has a remixed cult number Pyar Do Pyar Lo. Now it only remains to see whether all this works in the film's favour or not.

Based on infidelity, Thank You is a film about three lecherous husbands Raj (Bobby Deol), Vikram (Irrfan Khan) and Yogi (Suneil Shetty), big womanizers who openly cheat on their wives played by Sonam Kapoor, Rimi Sen and Celina Jaitly respectively Of them all Sanjana (Sonam) loves Raj too much but starts doubting him and deploys a detective agent Kishan (Akshay Kumar) to prove this. How he works towards proving Raj guilty and in the process exposes Vikram and Yogi too follows through rest of the plot. Though not as intolerable as No Problem, Thank You has more negatives than positives. The film gets mired by not only bad editing but also bad dubbing and lighting. Even the lip-syncing of songs by all the actors is faulty. Story writer and director Anees Bazmee fails to bring any novelty in the story and this time around lacks in direction too. All the actors appear in their over the top acting and expressions. Akshay Kumar is his usual flop self and as most of the cases, this time too fails to conjure any laughs. While Rimi Sen is all bloated up in this film, Celina Jaitly mostly suffers from bad make-up followed by close shots throughout the film. A part from weeping and sniffing, Sonam Kapoor doesn't have much to do. Irrfan Khan is the only respite in all of them. He surely does bring in a few chuckles.