Emotional upheaval

Genre: Family drama

Starring: Ajay Devgn, Sidharth Malhotra, Rakul Preet Singh

With Thankgod, director Indra Kumar takes you back to the 80s of the last century. This is a feel-good family melodrama starring Ajay Devgn and Sidharth Malhotra in key roles, with Rakul Preet Singh thrown in merely for spice. The screenplay may be poor, but the premise of the movie makes the audience relate to the characters with ease.

Ayaan Kapoor (Sidharth) is a real estate broker who is going through a tough phase in his business. His wife Ruhi (Rakul) is a police officer,

and her earnings currently support the family. One day while going for a business deal, Ayaan met with a

car crash, and his condition was bad. In that state, he wakes up in heaven and has to 'The Game of Life', organised by Chitragupt, aka CG, (Ajay

Devgn) in order to live. How he plays that game is the story of Thankgod.

The modern Chitragupt, instead of giving a lecture on karma, asks

Ayaan to play the game that shows a mirror of his real self to him as the game progresses. He gets to

negotiate real-life situations all over again, but Ayaan fails because his inherent character traits come to the fore even when he tries to hide them. As the game progresses, Indra Kumar manages to create an emotional upheaval in the dark theatre as the audience begins to relate to the peeling off of the masks we all wear.

The film questions the mindless rituals and obligations in life and the biggest lesson, however, comes

when CG asks Ayaan to focus on the illuminated parts of life and not to muddle his mind with the dark spots.

Director Indra Kumar has re

worked a 2009 Danish film (Anders Matthesen's Whatgoes Around) showcasing a bygone era of Mumbai movies. The result is not really encouraging, such that

even a steamy number by Nora Fatehi – a remix of the now forgot

ten Sri Lankan song – Manike... doesn't quite work in lifting the movie's fate.

The film makes you believe that good guys go to heaven and bad guys accumulate black balls in the 'game' of life. Watch it if you can.

★★ ★★★