Viewed: WAKE UP SID

It's interesting to catch up a film quite late in the day, when almost everyone you know has seen the flick. The expectations tend to be on the higher side if everyone has liked it. Though one also learns to keep them to almost zero especially when there are either new guys on the play or old folks whose works you have not been too fond of.

Wake Up Sid was recommended by many and liked by almost everyone I know. Though...I came out disappointed, which reflects the fact that there was some sort of expectation! However, when you step-back to analyze what you felt as you watched, you realize, which I did even while watching, that the film isn't so fresh, which it has been reviewed as courtesy the way setting pans out.

It tried to play cute for most of the part, which is a big sin in my book, and it follows the most standard technique - use 'cute' dialogues and play scenes that are trying to be deliberately funny.

The story is simple - a boy from a rich family enjoys life with zero vision / focus about his life ahead. He meets a girl who has come to Bombay to become 'independent' and they strike a warm friendship. The nice, harmless but irresponsible guy ends up being kicked by his father. He moves in with his friend and over the days discovers what life is about as he becomes responsible. He goes back to his loving folks and of course, discovers that he has found love in his platonic-friend.

It's a predictable story, which needs or needed a fresh, insightful telling so even if one knows how it would go, you enjoy - what happens next.

The fact that the story focuses primarily on the protagonist, Sid is a good thing; the story's p.o.v (point of view) is his and it doesn't go astray. But the problem is - what happens next. The tricky part in such a flick is that the character tends to be passive. What works in the film is that as one stays with Sid, you see him in action all the time - reacting to things and then taking decisions.

What does not work is how things build up slowly. It establishes the change in his life and doesn't move quickly playing the same thing again and again. The other sub-stories or plots are almost zilch, but what ever are present haven't been exploited much.

One wishes that Sid is thrown more deeply in a ditch so that the struggle is more challenging. The good part tends to be that the change in character isn't melodramatic, however the bane remains - playing it cute.

The scenes seem set-up to create laughs by the 'witty' dialogues, which are not necessarily up to the mark. The friends scene typically delve into that domain and so are the scenes with the mother (Supriya Pathak) that tend to be contrived. At times things even resolve too conveniently and when it comes to big moments like the discovery by Aisha (Konkona) about her love for Sid, the set-up is found wanting and as such you don't care much for the character.

But...what makes it work for the audience - showing the story of just these two people. Putting them in contrasting positions. Making them interact with cuteness flowing. Of course, all sets et al are Karan Johar style; this is a new thing in cinema - try to create 'real' people but still give them plush homes and sweetness-personified situations, which doesn't affect as long as one goes with the characters.

That's what makes it a hit, and of course, with peppy music playing along. However, with deliberate cute telling, with exposition that says what one feels, with simplistic resolutions, it fails to shine (for me.)


Writers: Ayan Mukerji, Niranjan Iyengar
Director: Ayan Mukerji


Rating **
[Max Rating ****]


[Viewed at PVR Cinemas, Forum, Bangalore with Tripathi, Mota and Lull on 28th Oct, 2009, 7pm show]