Thank You For Coming movie review: Bhumi Pednekar's film wants to smash patriarchy but takes too long to climax

Bhumi Pednekar's character Kanika mouths a 'F**k You' to the audience in a school auditorium. She becomes the flag-bearer of women to own up to their happiness, freedom and liberalisation. We suddenly hear cheers of 'Smash Patriarchy' but nowhere does Karan Boolani's Thank You For Coming even touch an iota of feminism and women empowerment. Rather it becomes a bizarre obsession of a woman to get an orgasm as if that's the ultimate manna to paradise. 

The plot revolves around Kanika Kapoor (Bhumi Pednekar) aka Kaandu Kanika. She comes from a single parent which had subjected her to taboo and mockery since childhood. However, her life's motto and biggest disappointment is not being able to have an orgasm with all the men she's been with. Her best friends Pallavi (Dolly Singh) and Tina (Shibani Bedi) are her biggest support systems in her 'misery'. When she agrees to marry the simple but endearing Jeevan (Pradhuman Singh) who adores her, she ends up having the 'climax' she was waiting for at her own Roka ceremony. The only thing is Kanika fails to remember with whom she chose to have the first orgasm of her life. 

Thank You For Coming is everything that feminism and sexual liberation is not. The female protagonist attaches her life's goal in achieving an orgasm and what follows is a laborious string of male bashing, patronizing the idea of a fairytale romance and getting a completely wrong notion of an 'independent and empowered woman.' The writing is lousy, superficial and borrows few words from wannabe Instagram captions. In one of the scenes, Bhumi Pednekar's mother tells her that she is a strong, independent, successful woman and you scratch your head and wonder where have you even seen the female protagonist hustling for a living? The message in the climax and the big reveal of Kanika's orgasmic pleasure is utterly laughable and predictable. The biggest highlight of the plot happens to be the inclusion of the drag community through Rani Kohenur's character which is endearing and relevant. The message against a teen getting slutshamed after her intimate video with a guy gets leaked also commands attention. 

Talking about the performances, Bhumi Pednekar's performance comes across as over-the-top and preachy. The organic tint is missing in her performance and it almost looks as if the actress was trying too hard to be cool, bold, gutsy and vulnerable. Instead it is Shibani Bedi and Dolly Singh who shine as her gal pals. At least they come across as real in their performance. Shehnaaz Gill is again royally wasted despite her honest effort to do a decent job.   Pradhuman Singh is definitely one of the major standouts and you find his character endearing. The other impressive performance was from Dolly Ahluwalia who was a treat to watch as Bhumi's grandmother. Anil Kapoor and Karan Kundrra's cameo were a mammoth waste with the latter's rather embarrassing reference to his girlfriend Tejasswi Prakash's show 'I find Naagins sexy.' However, it's Sushant Divgikar aka Rani Kohenur who steals all the show with his brief appearance. You cannot help but cheer and root for him as he puts up a phenomenal drag performance in a catchy rendition of 'Pari Hoon Main.' Another brilliant and hard-hitting performance comes from Saloni Daini. Her transformation from a child artist and comedian 'Gangubai' to delivering such a mature act is simply top-notch. 

The costumes by Tarun Tahiliani is top notch and you've to owe the female leads for their seamless sartorial outings. Apart from the reprised version of 'Pari Hoon Main' and Ritviz's 'Baarat', none of the songs manage to strike a chord with you. Thank You For Coming could've send a strong message regarding the women's empowerment and liberation but the pseudo wokeism takes over unceremoniously. But definitely some brownie points for being probably the first ever film for highlighting drag in an uber cool manner. But this one misses the mark otherwise.