Movie Review – Wake Up Sid

Wake Up Sid – Synopsis

Wake Up Sid revolves around the story of Siddharth, a rich spoilt brat living off his father’s money without a single care in the world. His only penchant is photography and spending money which he proudly claims to be his dad. However, as all stories in tinseltown go, his life changes when he meets the demure newcomer in his city, Aisha (played by Konkona Sen Sharma). What follows is a nicely written story of a platonic relationship, Sid’s self-realisation and coming up of age, and a love affair which finally blossoms.

Wake Up Sid – Cast and Crew

Banner – UTV Motion Pictures, Dharma Productions

Release Date – October 2, 2009

Genre – Romance/Drama

Producer – Karan Johar

Director – Ayan Mukerji

Lyrics – Javed Akhtar

Music Director – Shankar Mahadevan, Ehsaan Noorani, Loy Mendonca, Amit Trivedi

Story / Writer – Ayan Mukerji

Starring – Ranbir Kapoor, Konkona Sen Sharma

Wake Up Sid – Movie Review

There are five things that make “Wake Up Sid” a delightful affair. It has a constant flow throughout; no over the top or understated drama; no ultra emotional strangulation of audiences; absolutely no yuppie cool dude act; and lastly, the film has a well-written, original and refreshing story, something which other movies in recent times have completely overlooked.

While the film actually becomes really engrossing in the second half, the first half facilitates an adequate groundwork for the story to progress. There are bitter sweet moments in the first half as well but one still wishes for that extra something to kick start that would make “Wake Up Sid” go beyond a regular “coming of age” film. Wake Up Sid could have been better if the filmmaker had played more realistically emotions which do seem to give away their artificiality at some points.

This is where young director Ayan Mukerji’s writing comes in handy because unlike a conventional movie, he doesn’t just bring a turnaround in Sid’s character by throwing a song to bring in that ‘overnight transformation’. He keeps it soft and subtle starting from something as simple as Sid learning how to prepare an omelette, keep his comic books stacked, prepare his own bed and of course, earn his very first cheque.

By the time he returns to his dad (Anupam Kher in a short but effective role), you realise that the destination was eventually met even as the journey wasn’t quite ‘on your face’ or ‘over the top’.

Meanwhile Konkona gets yet another complex role for herself. She is brilliant. Watch out for her in the interview scene or the outburst when Ranbir decides to go back to his parents’ house. Her irritation in certain scenes with Ranbir is utterly believable too and so are the tender ways in which she looks after him.

The supporting cast fits in well too. The young man who plays Rishi (Namit Das – last seen in “The President Is Coming” as Ramesh) is just effortless. Kashmira Shah, in her four-scenes act, is a pleasant surprise while Rahul Khanna is decent in the limited footage.

While “Wake Up Sid” would of course raise Ranbir’s stock in months to come, it would be noticed in a major way for Mukerji’s script sense and direction. He makes the kind of debut that made Farhan Akhtar hot property after “Dil Chahta Hai”, though comparing the two would be undermining Farhan’s debut.