THANK YOU reviewer says "No, thank you".

Akshay Kumar has always been an actor I yearned to be able to love on screen. Time after time, I watched his films hoping he would deliver his talent as smoothly as I remembered him in for example  Namastey London. One film after the other, I came out of the spectator experience thinking “All right, maybe next film”…

Don’t get me wrong. I understand that he is an unparalleled martial arts action hero and that most of his films are supposed to be light mainstream entertainment. I also know how huge his fan base is and the law of the majority has indeed motivated me to keep attempting to love his work.

When I decided to watch Thank You, I thought the casting, namely Irrfan, a solid actor, and the beautiful chick flick sensation, Sonam Kapoor, would stave off any derogatory plot towards women. I was sure that it guaranteed an emotional content that would be touching and entertaining. I hate to say that I am once again left thinking that Mr. Kumar can do better than this. He has mentioned in the past that he wishes to act in a role that will show his more emotional or vulnerable side, expressing that he wants to explore and prove his talent in various roles, moving beyond his image as an athlete-actor capable of delivering simple humour and complex action on screen. 

 
After watching Thank You, my opinion is that this is not yet the film with which he is to achieve this goal. The script is supposed to be romantic but something doesn't ring quite right. One thing is sure, success cannot last on pure stardom. I wonder what motivated Twinkle Khanna to produce the film or the actors to act in it. But let’s begin by explaining the plot and saying what exactly was that left me so perplex.

In a nutshell, three married young women (Sonam Kapoor, Celina Jaitley, Rimmi Sen) discover that their respective husbands (Bobby Deol, Suniel Shetty, Irrfan Khan) cheat on them with abandon and regularity. The ladies come to this realisation thanks to the services of private detective Kishan (Akshay Kumar). The entire film focuses on how guys are so terrible and  deserve to be bashed and how girls totally and absolutely depend on them to think, be happy, fulfill themselves, eat, drink, be merry, blink or basically… to simply exist.

Yes sir, behind a “feministic” plot, lies the tinge of sexism that other Akshay Kumar movies such as Kambakkht Ishq have already been criticized for in the past. It must be said in addition to this that neither Bobby Deol nor Irrfan look really convincing as gigolo husbands. I believe this has to do more with the script than their acting capabilities.

So yes, what these men are doing to their wives can be rated as despicable: repeatedly cheating, verbally or psychologically abusing them, etc. But in the end, why would a woman-empowering flick imply that these three women as well of dozens of others need to have a suave and seductive private detective to guide them through what they have to do in order to find their worth and live their lives or even prevent them from committing suicide?

Maybe my “feminist” outlook cannot understand this type of logic. However, I know more films coming from India which are much less condescending towards women in their plot and tone. I also know films in which the men don't need to be hyper-punished or asked to behave as shopping mall "slaves" to make up for their sins. Sexism goes both ways.

If I did not write reviews, I confess this would be the last Akshay Kumar straw for me. But hey, let’s hope he selects a script that will really put his talent to work for a good message and not only light macho man entertainment. If he still wishes to stick to the latter movie style, my humble advice would be to stick to action flicks and leave us women alone. Hoping to write a review on a good film of his in the near future.  Inch’allah.

Learn more about Thank You on Wikipedia

Film: Thank You

Director and screenplay writer: Anees Bazmi
Cast: Akshay Kumar, Bobby Deol, Irrfan Khan, Sonam Kapoor, Celina Jaitley, Rimmi Sen, Mallika Sherawat, Vidya Balan
Music: Pritam
Production: Twinkle Khanna / Ronnie Screwvala

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TUM MILO TO SAHI A lukewarm meeting of souls

'Tum Milo Toh Sahi' is a film I personally placed high expectations on, mainly due to the promise of watching its veteran actors and to its central theme: generation and life differences in an ever evolving India at the height of modernization.

The film concentrates on the story of 3 Mumbaikar couples whose lives come into contact due to the greedy purchase of a traditional and cozy coffeehouse by a powerful multinational.

1^st couple: Subramanium (Nana Patekar) is a simple man with a grouchy edge who gets dismissed from his job in a multinational company, after 30 years of service. He and Delshad Nanji (Dimple Kapadia) meet at a supermarket over a broken bottle that both refuse to pay. They subsequently have several comic occasions to fight before they become fond of each other. Delshad owns a popular café in Mumbai, the Lucky Café, and instills her love to it with energetic charm.

2^nd couple: Amit & Anitha (Suniel Shetty and Vidya Malvade) are a middle-aged couple in crisis and have one child. Amit is the stereotype businessman who "lives to work" and Anitha consistently pleas him to "work to live" instead, so that he can have enough time to dedicate to his family. Amit's ambition drives him to help the multinational that hires him to acquire Delshad Nanji's (refer to 1^st couple above) coffeehouse against her will.

3^rd couple: Vikram (Rehan Khan) is a sweet small town young man who has just arrived in Mumbai. He falls inevitably in love with Shalini (Anjana Sukhani), an independent girl who works for the film industry. Both Vikram and Shalini are among the regular customers of Delshad's Lucky Café and together with other students and Delshad's friends, will protest against Amit's multinational, taking up the mission of avoiding their favorite café from being repurchased and losing its soul.

Despite the film's promising subject, I confess I agree with most critics and a majority of the audience in saying that the film has a very strong soap-opera feel to it except for Nana Patekar's absolutely brilliant and show-stealing performance. While Dimple Kapadia also conveys well her character's strong will and a candid Rehan Khan looks promising, the rest of the cast unfortunately fails to carry a weak script and dialogues. The soundtrack and background score unfortunately do not succeed in lifting up the film either, leaving spectators feeling as if they had watched a bad musical adaptation of a good and honest film.

While director Kabir Sadanand does succeed in directing comic anecdotes, his direction of drama requires seasoned or very talented actors to give scenes the necessary credibility and depth. Working on better script dialogues and coherent musical interludes might allow him to pull off a better film next time.

If you are interested in an acting master class, I suggest you purchase the 'Tum Milo Toh Sahi' DVD upon its release in order to watch Nana Patekar's high class performance… You might sadly want to fast forward a couple of times during the film otherwise.

Release Date: 2 April 2010
Producer: Nikhil Panchamiya
Director: Kabir Sadanand
Cast:
Nana Patekar...... Rajagopal Subramanium
Dimple Kapadia...... Delshad Nanji
Rehan Khan...... Bikramjeet Singh
Sunil Shetty...... Amit Nagpal
Vidya Malvade...... Anita Nagpal
Anjana Sukhani...... Shalini Kasbekar
Screenplay:
Rajen Makhijani
Sameer Siddiqui
Kabir Sadanand

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