Thank You review: Naga Chaitanya's film is a dreary coming-of-age drama 

Naga Chaitanya’s Thank You (2022), which marks his second collaboration with filmmaker Vikram K Kumar, is a simple film that tries to highlight the importance of gratitude and the role it plays in our lives. It’s a straightforward story of a successful man, a self-made billionaire, who is compelled to go on a journey to express his gratitude to all those people who shaped his life and helped him grow.

This is both a coming-of-age drama and a story of redemption of a man who goes through life-changing transformation. As much as the idea of taking gratitude seriously sounds interesting on paper, it doesn’t translate into a compelling drama one can be moved by.  

The story follows the life of Abhiram (Naga Chaitanya), and it’s an underdog story with a lot of familiar beats. Abhiram is the founder of a medical app but he’s the perfect example of every employee’s nightmare as he’s a self-centered and egoistic boss who doesn’t value people around him.

As much as he’s hardworking and extremely successful, it’s his attitude that turns off people, including his own wife Priya (Raashi Khanna), who decides to leave him for good. Priya’s sudden decision forces Abhi to now look back on his life, and as he analyses what went wrong with his behaviour, he understands the importance of humility and gratitude which takes him on a life-altering journey. 

The film has so much in common with Mahesh Babu’s Maharshi (2019). Both these films are about its highly successful billionaire protagonists who are forced to go on a journey to value people. As we see Abhiram on a journey of self-discovery, the story takes us back to his college days and a lot of time here is wasted on glorifying his character and packing in elements to pander to the masses.

The college portion has striking similarity with Chaitanya’s own film Majili (2019), which was also a coming-of-age drama of a reckless guy finding a purpose in life through his wife. The biggest issue with Thank You is its writing, which isn’t compelling enough, to make us buy into Abhiram’s character and his subsequent transformation which is too good to be true. You wish Abhiram’s journey was more moving, but it feels very superficial and barely makes any impact, let alone entertain. 

Naga Chaitanya is earnest with his performance but it’s the character that’s not fleshed enough. Raashi Khanna’s character feels like an extension of what she played in World Famous Lover (2020) – of a wife stuck with a husband who’s so full of himself. PC Sreeram’s cinematography play a key role in elevating the mood of the film with his striking visuals. Unarguably, this is Vikram Kumar’s weakest film till date and that’s putting it mildly.