Thank You Malayalam Movie
I have always believed that a good script could do wonders in director V K Prakash's hands, and a bad script could appear even worse. 'Thank You', VKP's latest film unfortunately falls into the latter category, and ends up mostly a thankless affair.
There is this sober guy (Jayasurya) who looks like he means some real bad business. He is a bomb maker, and soon has the cops led by the Commissioner (Sethu) scampering all over the city in search of his explosive creations. Pretty soon, he lands up at a TV station, where he appears live on a news program to reveal why he had decided to blow up things for a change.
There are very few instances in the film that are true crowd pleasers. There are even fewer instances that would please a serious film lover on the lookout for some materials to chew on. The one feeling that encompasses anyone who watches the film, is the feeling of being taken for a ride.
This 'chalta hain' attitude permeates throughout, and the flimsy plot soon succumbs to its lack of depth. There is no flashiness however, but that isn't speaking too much, when one is talking of a film that has no twists, shocks or surprises in store.
'Thank You' has a theme that best suits a short film with a running time of less than thirty minutes. The film does not run for more than two hours as it is, but it's still incredibly long by any measure, and starts gnawing at your patience levels soon.
Oh yes. It totally escapes me why there have to be references to those former films of the director in a scenario as this. At best it serves the purpose of making the viewer wonder as to whether 'Beautiful' would remain an odd win among a series of films that followed and which have failed to hit the mark.
The character sketches in 'Thank You' are so hazily drawn that you might miss them if you don't strain yourself and squint your eyes to take a closer look at them. You do give up after a while, realizing that it isn't worth the effort.
The story of the aam janta taking to the streets to see to it that justice is served has caught on many a film maker's fancy these days. We have already had a few films dwelling on the idea, and here it's more of a one-man army that takes on the perpetrators.
I wish Sethu, an actor whom I much admire, was given a better deal in the film, or that he had chosen another film for his debut in Malayalam films. We could however rest assured, that we would see more of this remarkable actor on screen in the days to come. Jayasurya does a neat job of playing the ordinary citizen who decides that he has had enough, but it isn't a spectacular feat either, and certainly not something that the actor hasn't done before. Dhwani is around in a miniscule role as well.
'Thank You' does offer a tribute in perhaps an unintended way. This tribute is to the capital city of the state, Trivandrum, and it has been captured incredibly well on camera by Arvind Krishna.
We do stand up for the National Anthem at the end of it all. We nod our heads at the sight of the activist caught in an embrace with the commissioner. And we simply wish things were as easy as this in this country of ours.
