Thank God review: Audience needs a lifeline to survive Ajay Devgn and Sidharth Malhotra's outdated game of life

2/5

Story:

A hugely indebted, egotistical real estate broker (Sidharth Malhotra) has an accident. He becomes cognizant and understands that he is in heaven. A God (Ajay Devgn) makes an appearance in front of him and tells him that he must play a "GAME OF LIFE." If he succeeds, he will be sent back to earth; if he fails, he will be condemned to hell.

Review:

In a scene, CG (Ajay Devgn) says that a tall superstar, while battling for his life, came to meet him and he played the game of life with him. This led to the actor starting a quiz show after he was sent back to Earth. Yes, the movie talks about Amitabh Bachchan's shocking accident on the set of Coolie and how he went on to become the host of Kaun Banega Crorepati, but it doesn't name him.

Thank God is being touted to be that OG game show where the audience needs lifelines to survive. Indra Kumar remade the Norwegian film Sorte Kugler by paying tribute to his own genre of movies from the 80s and 90s. Even at the time when the audience wishes for something lighter, the film is dated and the narrative doesn't fit into today's times.

The film establishes in a jiffy that Ayaan Kapoor (Sidharth Malhotra) is a selfish man full of himself. He meets an accident and fights for his life while meeting up with Chitragupt aka CG (Ajay Devgn) in a set up straight from Thor: Love and Thunder, where the superhero meets Zeus.

Ayaan has a wife, Ruhi (Rakul Preet Singh), who is a Crime Branch Officer, and a daughter, Pihu. He doesn't care about them but can't live without them. Of course, which man can take people around him for granted?

Devgn as CG makes a stylish entry in a suited up look and starts the game of life, ditto in the Bachchan mode. He brings in his Singham avatar to prove a point, but a pointless one like shown in the whole film.

Every moment becomes predictable and takes scenes from popular culture, especially one of the iconic scenes from the Friends TV show.

The film works hard to demonstrate that man is a selfish animal who should also be God-fearing. The film takes about a few minutes to talk about Karma, and the rest of the plot seems to just put an end to it in some other way.

Every sin starts off on a lighter note and is turned into a drama right away, before the joke has even landed. It's funny to call it a joke as there are hardly any moments which might even leave you with a smile.

There are times when a scene starts and I figure out how they are going to conclude it. The predictability of comedy films is to be expected, but the jokes in this film make WhatsApp forwards slightly more entertaining than this.

Even the romantic part of the story seems forced, and Rakul Preet Singh has no real role.

The film is all about Sidharth Malhotra, and the actor doesn't disappoint. It might come as a little surprise to see him in a comical role after Shershaah, but he has definitely honed his skills and become better.

Ajay Devgn is in his usual place, and the actor brings back the things he does in his Golmaal performances, even though he doesn't make anyone laugh.

There's only one memorable song in Thank God, which is Manike, picturised on Nora Fatehi. We hope there aren't any more showing her as an object of desire.

It has been a disappointing Diwali release in 2022, and even God can't save this film or even the previous one (Ram Setu), which also has a mention of the Almighty.

Verdict:

Sidharth Malhotra's decent performance is good to watch but doesn't help the disappointing film get any better.