Thank You For Coming Review: Bhumi Pednekar, Shehnaaz Gill Film Is A Feminist Comedy Done Right

Thank You For Coming' is the new-age chick-flick: desi-version of Mean Girls marrying Sex & The City and giving a contemporary take on female orgasm

New Delhi: 'Thank You For Coming', a Rhea Kapoor, Ekta Kapoor backed movie is an organic addition to the 'Veere Di Wedding' template; with the elephant in the room this time being about not about a marriage but a woman who has never had an orgasm.Starring an ensemble led by Bhumi Pednekar, Shehnaaz Gill, Dolly Singh, Shibani Bedi, 'Thank You For Coming' is a fun-light hearted sex-comedy which has its intent in the right place. 

'Thank You For Coming' picks on a pressing subject, wraps it in some sassy dialogue, gets A-listers to give adequate performances in great outfits( courtesy Rhea Kapoor) to deliver a full-blown masala entertainer minus the patriarchal joke vibe and  songs that do not objectify the female body.

All this is done by the 'masculine sensibility and sensitivity' of the man behind the camera: Karan Boolani and for that the filmmaker deserves to be commended.

Performances

Bhumi Pednekar delivers an earnest and relatable performance. Her natural inclination to create empathy for characters in gray is her strength. For an A-lister to masturbate on screen is a bold move that the actor like many of her previous roles does with conviction.

Shehnaaz Gill has a short cameo in the film and in all her parts, the actor is a show stealer. Even as a supporting character, Shehnaaz has a screen presence of the kind that overshadows all; even the lead.

Influencer Dolly Singh makes her debut with 'Thank You For Coming' and she is well-cast in the role. 

Shibani Bedi is natural. Kusha Kapila is in a cameo and yet manages to deliver the perfect mean-girls vibe feel to her character.

Anil Kapoor is in a cameo of an aging singleton dating women half his age. His presence is more than gratifying in a film of a genre like this. 

Meanwhile, several actors from the ensemble add bits and pieces to the story and suit their parts perfectly.

Music

One thing 'Thank You For Coming' does really well is use indie-music and non-objectifying-fun-songs as its score. Compositions like 'Baaraat' by Ritviz compliments sequences and this rather contemporary and niche take on conventional music scoring is a welcome change.

The background score of 'Thank You For Coming' is also well-composed. Without the need of over-the-top music elements, this is done well.

Design

'Thank You For Coming' is a story involving a niche family setup. The well-informed evolved women who make choices for themselves, have the courage of living on their own terms, and largely about single moms and parenting.

In that regard, the elite set up involving a West Delhi, Punjabi Bagh locality looks like any regular suburb-Mumbai or Delhi. The references to 'Chalo Gurgaon' and other Delhi dialogues are just strewn for the sake of making the film look like a Delhi story when the template is very generic. For a second it also felt like Delhi was opted so that Tarun Tahiliani's Delhi store could be put in frame.

Camera & Edit

One of things about 'Thank You For Coming' is the liberal use of a variety of shots to tell your story. A particularly interesting one was involving a female orgasm. A moving tapestry of pleasure coupled with Bhumi's image is a perfect marriage of how the form marries the content it is portraying.

A clever use of small-mixed animation in the beginning and end of the film about fairy-tales and 'happily ever after' scored with a voiceover give a premise to the story that involves a lot of telling instead of showing.

'Thank You For Coming' feels like a free-flowing tale from her lead character's conscience. Scenes where life slows down is actually mirrored by an extra second when Karan Kundrra( Arjun) looks at Bhumi( Kanika) and they exchange glances to a well-rounded 10 minute sequence in the second half involving action that is fast-paced and centred around finding out the man responsible for giving Kanika an orgasm.

The edit by Shweta Venkat Matthew, Manan Sagar in a way, conforms to the fleeting attention problems we as audiences face, and gives a moment of satisfaction in all scenes without the need to over cut or stretch shots or sequences beyond their suggested meaning.

Dialogue

'Thank You For Coming' has some sassy dialogue which has clean humour, in the sense of non-feminism bashing or women objectification through slang or vocab.

There is some genuinely good-writing with portions that are humorous and look like women getting back at men for wanting a 'screaming orgasm' story for themselves. 

Highlights naturally include dialogue around 'men taking to protests had they not been having orgasms…’

Screenplay

Written by Radhika Anand Prashasti Singh, 'Thank You For Coming' is a well-rounded script that feels like a domestic tale of self-love and the female orgasm, and yet manages to say things involving the socio-cultural and political fabric.

A notable highlight is the clever use of three generations of women in the Kapoor clan so as to question ingrained patriarchy and the mother not wanting to be like her own mother( like this, ‘Thank You For Coming’ brushes on many surrounding pertinent topics but never delves into detail)

There is naturally the problem of more talking and less showing but that for a second, one also believes a subject like this and the desi audience wants; that is to not cringe in their seats.

Conclusion

'Thank You For Coming' is the new-age chick-flick: the desi-version of Mean Girls marrying Sex & The City and giving a contemporary take on female orgasm and the single-empowered woman who likes to have her fun and not associate ‘happiness ever after’ with a marriage or relationship.

Lastly, 'Thank You For Coming' is a story about women, told by women and for women. No matter how basic or simplistic its premise, amid the ongoing slush of the evolved-intelligent action-hero's revival and reinvention; there is a need time and again, for a film like this by A-listers to reinstate that times are changing for good and that no matter how niche a topic or its audience; one can always find space and audience for expressing a story that needs to be told.