WAKE UP SID
Alternately charming and a lazy addition to the bollywood millenium trend
by Vishal Verma

A UTV Motion Pictures & Dharma Productions Presentation

Producer : Karan Johar & Hiroo Johar
Writer-Director : Ayan Mukherjee (debut)
Genre : Rom Com
Target Audience : plexes goers & 20 somethings

Starring

Ranbir Kapoor...... Sidharth Mehra
Konkona Sen Sharma...... Aisha
Rahul Khanna...... Editor
Anupam Kher...... Ram Mehra
Shikha Talsania...... Laxmi
Supriya Pathak...... Sarita
Namit Das...... Rishi
Rahul Pendkalkar
Shruti Bapna
Kainaz Modiwal

Technical Analysis

Karan Johar gives another young newcomer a chance. This time the debutant Ayan Mukherji is the son of Bollywood's old school actor Deb Mukherjee (still remembered for the number ‘Tu Auron Ki Kyon Ho Gayi’ from the 1972 flick ‘Ek Bar Mooskura Do’).

Debutant writer helmer Ayan’s flick is another addition to the Bollywood millennium trend started by Farhan with ‘Dil Chahta Hai’. Set in India's rich society – his principal character Sid has sleek wheels, trendy handsets widescreen TVs and the latest computers – the emphasis is on characterization rather than far-fetched plots.

Alternately charming and a lazy rom com "Wake UP Sid’ begins as a fresh, odd-couple movie but starts running only after intermission. Pairing of Ranbir & Konkana generates some natural screen chemistry, but the script's lack of infrastructure (subplots, twists, character nuances) takes its toll. The flick is expected to attract legs of 20 something’s towards metros plexes but compared with other recent rom com like ‘Love Aaj Kal’ ‘Jab We Met’ or the B- town traditional ‘Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi’, ‘Wake Up Sid’ won,t travel long distance.

Ranbir seriously carries the irresponsible brat act on screen with a degree of responsibility; Konkana is increasingly reliant on her spontaneity. Musical numbers are a hindrance in this easy going lazy romancer, the throwaway ending is weak. This new addition to the Millennium Bollywood does somehow manage to capture a young, trendy and out of India audience to some extant due to the eager contributions from the support cast. Shikha Talsania as Laxmi, Supriya Pathak as mom and the best of the lot Namit Das as Rishi, they all easily fit the bill on screen though without much explanations from the helmer.

If you can ignore the bits that are too slow or too boring this is not a bad film.

It’s an attempt to be a cutting-edge cool a deviation from the old-school Bollywood genre conventions: Anyways Ayan does return to tried & tested father son altercation again without any establishments. This uneasy compromise is redeemed in part by performances from Ranbir & Konkana as the couple so wrong for each other it must be right. ‘Wake UP Sid’ eventually falls back on traditional values, the flaw Farhan did with ‘Dil Chahta Hai’ the same happens with Ayan’s ‘Wake Up Sid’.

Ayan who is helmer as well as the writer shoots for a contemporary film about twentysomethings that twentysomethings might want to watch, but, stuck in the trappings of the genre, he writes to please many genres & thus misses the mark. For ex – the coming back of Sid to his parents appears routine. Why now an independent confident Sid who wants to go back to his parents is not convincingly told. As the flare –up with the father, the reunion is also half baked.

Slickly produced with first rate production values, Anil Mehta’s pleasant cinematography Cinematography & Shan Mohammed’s crisp cutting, Baylon Fonseca appropriate sound & impressive clothing by Manish & Priyanjali, ‘Wake UP Sid’ scores 2.5 out of 5.

One for the attempt to be young & fresh.

One for the performance of the lead cast

½ for the technical polishes.

The Story

Sidharth Mehra (Ranbir Kapoor), a lazy, unmotivated slacker from Mumbai whose life undergoes a series of changes after taking his final year college exams. Sid's world is breezy, carefree, and without any true responsibilities. The most important elements in his life are his friends, his camera, his car, and his X-box 360.

Sid thrives around his two best friends, Rishi (Namit Das) and Laxmi (Shikha Talsania), very rarely communicates with his mother Sarita (Supriya Pathak) and takes his father Ram Mehra (Anupam Kher), and all his hard earned wealth for granted. Despite all these traits, Sid is an honest boy; sweet, funny, and above all, a good friend. Aisha Bannerjee (Konkona Sen Sharma), an aspiring writer from Calcutta, learns this soon enough when her path crosses with Sid's on her first day in Bombay, Ambitious, well-read, and driven, Aisha has come to Bombay to realize her dreams as a writer. Despite their contrasting personalities. Sid becomes Aisha's first friend in the city.

A series of circumstances and events compel him to take stock of his life and take a hard look at himself. Will he, at some point figure out what he's supposed to be doing with his life?

Promotion

The publicity designs indoor/outdoor/ are well designed & rightly directed.
It generates some curiosity in the minds of the young campus crowd.

Business Analysis

The promotions, publicity, Ranbir’s new found star status after ‘Bachna Ae Haseeno’ will attract some legs initially to the plexes in metros. Unfortunately, the lack of infrastructure (subplots, twists, character nuances) will take its toll & the movie will find it difficult to sustain.

Other Credits

Executive Producer / Co-Producer: Apoorva Mehta. Cinematography: Anil Mehta. Editor: Shan Mohammed. Screenplay: Ayan Mukerji. Sound: Baylon Fonseca. Dialogue: Niranjan Iyengar. Costume: Manish Malhotra & Priyanjali Lahiri. Cassettes and CD's on: Sony Music. Lyricist: Javed Akhtar. Music Director: Shankar Mahadevan, Ehsaan Noorani, Loy Mendonca & Amit Trivedi. Media Awareness: Nilufer Qureshi (Hype). Reviewed at Yash Raj Preview Theatre, Mumbai, on October 01, 2009.

Indianmotionpictures.com is striving to present the most thorough review database. We do not currently list below-the-line credits, although we hope to include them in the future. Please note we may not respond to every suggestion. Your assistance is appreciated.