Thank God

About the film

Thank God is a 2022 Indian Hindi-language fantasy comedy-drama film directed by Indra Kumar. A remake of the 2009 Danish film Sorte kugler, it stars Sidharth Malhotra, Ajay Devgn and Rakul Preet Singh.

Thank God was released theatrically on 25 October 2022, on Diwali festivities. It received mixed reviews from critics and was a commercial failure.

Plot

Ayaan Kapoor is an extremely greedy, selfish and egoistic real estate businessman who is in a debt of ₹16 crores. His day-to-day life involves carrying out his real estate business in 80% black and 20% white money, visiting a nearby Hanuman temple every Tuesday and Saturday to smear the idol of Hanuman with holy paste, offer laddus, pour oil on the idol and greedily ask for petty things. He has a booming real estate business, but falls into debt due to the demonetisation. He wants to sell his mansion to clear his debts but can't find any buyer and starts living at his wife's house with his wife, Inspector Ruhi, and daughter Pihu.

One day, Ayaan gets involved in a road accident, and regains consciousness in Heaven, where Yamaduta and Chitragupta alias "CG" give him a chance to go back to Earth, by asking him to play a game called Game of Life. He is shown a vision of his physical body currently being in the operation theatre, during which his soul will play the game.

The rules of the game: There are two containers - one for white balls, which represent Ayaan's positives, and the other for black balls, which represent his sins and weaknesses. The containers would be filled with white or black balls by the residents of heaven, which will be considered their votes. The votes would be given based on how Ayaan does his virtual tasks and how he behaves in a certain situations. If the container with the black balls overflows, he will be sent to hell and if the container with the white balls overflows, he gets to return to Earth.

Production

The official announcement of the film was made on 7 January 2021. Principal photography began in Mumbai on 21 January, and wrapped on 11 January 2022.

Soundtrack

The songs are composed by Tanishk Bagchi, Rochak Kohli and Chamath Sangeeth. The lyrics are written by Manoj Muntashir, Rashmi Virag, Sameer, Dulan ARX and Mellow D. The film score is composed by Amar Mohile.

The first song "Manike" is a remake of "Manike Mage Hithe", sung by the same singer Yohani.

Reception

Thank God received mixed reviews from critics and audiences. Critics praised the lead actors' performances and the humor, but criticised the premise and the script. On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 29% of 7 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 4.7/10.

Bollywood Hungama rated the film 3.5 out of 5 stars and wrote "Thank God is a film that entertains and enlightens, a perfect family entertainer this Diwali". Ganesh Aaglave of Firstpost rated the film 3.5 out of 5 stars and wrote "Director Indra Kumar perfectly blends comedy and drama to give us a Diwali entertainer with Ajay Devgn, Sidharth Malhotra and Rakul Preet Singh starrer Thank God". Dhaval Roy of The Times of India rated the film 3 out of 5 stars and wrote "The film has a message or two about moving on about tribulations, being humane and the importance of one's family". Devesh Sharma of Filmfare rated the film 3 out of 5 stars and wrote "Watch Thank God for its light-hearted moments". Rohit Bhatnagar of The Free Press Journal rated the film 3 out of 5 stars and wrote "Thank God is a so-called family entertainer that is stuck in the '90s. Watch it if you are okay to expect a sob tale rather than a pure comedy". Sonil Dedhia of News 18 rated the film 3 out of 5 stars and wrote "Thank God is an entertainer with its share of funny moments". Pratikshya Mishra of The Quint rated the film 2.5 out of 5 stars and wrote "The film goes from comedy to grief to introspection rapidly. While all these emotions are deployed well individually, as a whole, the film suffers from this constant tonal shift". Tushar Joshi of India Today rated the film 2 out of 5 stars and wrote "Despite Aj…

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