Film: Thank you For Coming
Director: Karan Boolani
Actors: Bhumi Pednekar, Dolly Singh, Shibani Bedi, Kusha Kapila
My rating – 3 out of 5 stars
The fight between Patriarchy and matriarchy has caught some serious fire in the past few years and the flames continue to burn righter with each passing day! Bollywood has really taken to the trend and is churning out films left right and centre that focusses on the standards of right and wrong set by the pre-dominant patriarchal archetype.
Be it the pleasure seeking woman or the hypocritical stands of the society on various issues that are considered taboo in the open but not behind closed doors. Things that are looked down upon in the broad daylight are readily accepted and practised in the secrecy of the four walls and what’s worse – sometimes, they are videod and are circulated on the internet for voyeristic raptures. But in the end only one party is questioned and that happens to be the womenfolk, who are slut shamed and are pointed fingers at for being dirtier. What is conviniently forgotten is that Taali dono haatho se bajti hai…
Thank You for coming focusses on a lot of these issues and questions the very fabric of the society for being the way it is. And the best part is sometimes women who are strong, often see their own strength dissipate into this maze of patriarchy and they end up becomnig what they loathed all their lives.
The film is directed by Karan Boolani and has been writen by Radhika Anand and Prashasti Singh and all the three have done a swell job.
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The film tells the story of Kanika who has been bullied throughout her school life for being “Thanda”, and who has been brought up by a single mother who has had quite a tussle with the society herself. Kanika has a different way of looking at things due to her upringing and still somehow considers herself to be a misfit because of all she endures throughout. And her only support are her two girlfriends, the Bengali Tina Das played by Shibani Bedi and the Punjabi girl Pallavi Khanna played by Dolly Singh. The way the lives of three girlfriends Kanika, Tina and Pallavi are entwined with a strong bond of friendship and love for each other, the way they stick around for each other suddenly changes in the end when Kanika wrongly feels, she had spent a night of absolute female bliss with her best friend’s husband. Suddenly the bonds of freindship seem too brittle and Kanika’s integrity and her very being is questioned by them. And finally what emerges is Kanika’s huge ballistic almost hysterical speech on the same school stage she was humiliated in front of the same guys who humiliated her! Tit for tat anyone?
Bhumi Pednekar’s restrained performance is good and works just the way it is meant to for the film. She is sharp, she is sassy and laidack where it is required. She hasn’t overdone one bit. Once again after Kiara Advani’s masturbation scene from Lust Stories we have Bhumi squirming on her ruffled bed sheets pleasuring herself to psychedellic music and the dizzying camera moves. This scene surely once again will be a highlight of the film. Shibani Bedi, Kusha Kapila and Dolly Singh have also played their parts nicely but they have to master the craft of acting big time.
The screenplay in the first half is quite mellowed and it is only during the second half that the film starts to bloom like the ladies in it. Anil Mehta’s cinematography is good, nothing special because the film doesn’t call for the showcasing of any badass camera skills. The music was minimal which was again a good thing. The edit was crisp and all in all it is a good film that calls mainly for the upmarket multiplex audiences.
