Thank You: Naga Chaitanya shines in a listless film

With the number of Telugu films faring well at the box office, Naga Chaitanya’s ‘Thank You’ was also expected to shine. Unfortunately, this Vikram Kumar-directed flick where Chay, as Naga Chaitanya is known, plays a self-centred egoistic successful man named Abhiram who is forced to think about his past and the mistakes he has committed thanks to an incident that happens. The regret he feels makes him recollect his past and he gives thanks to all those who have come into his life – friends and enemies - thus far and made it what it is. The movie takes us through his life and what makes him go back to being the man that he was earlier.BVS Ravi has penned this story, which is a pretty straightforward narration with no shocking or unexpected twists and turns, and director Vikram Kumar has written the screenplay. Unlike a hero who is always a do-gooder, Abhiram is a man who has his imperfections and his character arc clearly shows his transformation with time. The plot for the film is not new and reminds one of various other films that have been released in the past. ‘Autograph’ (2004), for instance, also takes us through the past of the hero from his school days to college etc. ‘Thank You’ tries to take it a step further, moving between the USA, where he became a corporate honcho, and Vizag, where he spent his college days, in tune with Abhiram’s life. The second half of the film devoted to the college portions in Vizag gets very long-winding and tiring. The writing needed to be much sharper with a highly convincing plot since it’s not plausible for a man who has become ruthless and egoistic over time to suddenly change in a day. One is not able to relate to a lot of things that Abhiram speaks about and trying to feel sympathy for him is tough.Naga Chaitanya shines in the role of Abhiram and is able to bring out the subtle nuances from being a young hardworking man to becoming arrogant and ruthless with success. On paper, the role of Abhiram would have looked appealing to Chay since it has shades of gray and gives the actor a new aspect as far as the character arc goes. However, it doesn’t translate well on screen as the screenplay is weak. Raashii Khanna as Priya is seen as a very emotional woman in the film and though it gets jarring at times, she has pulled off her role as has Avika Gor.One must talk about the cinematography by P C Sreeram – this is one of the highlights of the film. Aesthetically the film gets top marks and Thaman’s title song is memorable but the rest is nothing of note. As mentioned, director Vikram Kumar has also penned the screenplay for this film and while he did extremely well with earlier films like ‘Manam’ and ‘Ishq’, ‘Thank You’, unfortunately, is a big disappointment.Latha Srinivasan is a senior journalist based in Chennai. Her passion is entertainment, travel, and dogs.Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News, India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.