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After watching her play a politician’s daughter running away from her male chauvinist fiance in the gritty thriller “Afwaah”, it was fun to watch Bhumi Pednekar rush into getting herself a groom just to have an imaginary happy ending in “Thank You For Coming”. But that’s not what the film is about.
Directed by Karan Boolani, this 2023 comedy is focused on female pleasure and has been written by Radhika Anand and Prashasti Singh. Protagonist Kanika Kapoor (Bhumi Pednekar), the daughter of a single mother, recounts the story of her life and how she has been terribly unlucky with men, especially in the bedroom. In an ironic twist of fate, Kanika has fantastic drunk sex on the night of her engagement party but cannot remember with whom. So, Kanika and her best-friends Tina Das (Shibani Bedi) and Pallavi Khanna (Dolly Singh) embark on a mission to find out who she had a raunchy night with.
From a dreamy unsure teenager who encounters a regrettable first boyfriend experience, to blooming into a confident optimistic young woman who’s willing to give love a chance where she finds it, Bhumi Pednekar is charmingly likable as the capricious Kanika Kapoor. Her character is a comedic mix of a clueless airhead and self-aware intelligence because she does realize that maybe the problem lies within her. Pradhuman Singh delivers an endearing performance as Kanika’s dorky fiancé Jeevan, a shy businessman from a joint-family who’d do anything for her. Anil Kapoor has a mildly funny cameo as one of Kanika’s ex-boyfriends and Sushant Divgikr also plays her favorite ex Karan, who rightfully thinks Kanika might be in need of therapy. Shehnaaz Gill’s character was a running gag through the film, who’d randomly appear in different scenes and lend a friendly ear to Kanika.
The music in the film is foot-tapping, featuring a groovy new version of the 90s pop hit ‘Pari Hoon Main,’ sung by Sushant Digikr for ‘Thank You For Coming’. All the songs are woven smoothly within the plot and complement the story well. A more fitting choice for Kanika’s engagement party would have been an upbeat number with traditional Indian beats, instead of the song “Desi Wine,” which, though catchy, lacks the energy typical of desi wedding tracks. Dressed in their finery, Kanika and friends go crazy dancing, but it feels like they are moving to a different song.
As far as the theme of female pleasure is concerned, “Thank You For Coming” serves as a fun starter pack for younger women to discuss the subject with their friends and partners. The film has an entertaining first-half and it’s only in the last half-hour that the writers lose their grip on the plot as they pivot from its light-comedic tone to a more serious mood. After portraying reliable, strong female friendships throughout the runtime, Tina and Pallavi, who are like Kanika’s pillars, disappointingly morph into mean girls, even if temporarily. And despite being a laudable sex-positive film, the script unwittingly ends up placing the entire onus of achieving sexual gratification on women, exonerating men with a conversation reminiscent of a “boys will be boys” mentality. But, in essence, the takeaway message is this: we should all take responsibility for our own happiness, making it a fitting moral of the story.
Rating: 6 on 10. You can stream “Thank You For Coming” on Netflix.
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