Wake Up Sid - Review

Wake up Sid is a 2009 Hindi film, starring Ranbir Kapoor (Siddharth "Sid" Mehra) and Konkana Sen Sharma (Aisha Banerjee) in the lead roles. This movie is a Directorial Debut for Ayan Mukherji. Co-starring in the movie are Anupam Kher (Sid's father), Supriya Pathak (Sid's mother) and Kashmira Shah (Sonia), and Namit Das (Rishi).

Sid is a guy who doesnt want to grow up. He failed in his final exams, he doesnt want to work at his dad's office. He just takes life as it is - or atleast not so seriously. Sid meets a girl, Aisha Banerjee, who comes to Mumbai from Kolkatta, following her dreams. After meeting her, Sid understands the serious side of life. He realises that its his time to grow up. Meanwhile he fights with his parents, as his parents were very much pissed with his exam results and Sid stays with Aisha, and starts his own Independent life - which, ofcourse he has never thought of.

This movie is a reiteration of the same fact, that we have seen in many other films. A guy chasing his dream - but from a different angle. This is a movie about a guy who doesn wanna get serious about his life and then "Wakes up". The bottom line of the story might seem familiar. But, this stoy has been told in a different way. First of all, the credit goes to the new-face director Ayan. He has done some really-really good job. If you are looking out for some quality hindi movie, here it is. In an era of commercialism in Bollywood industry , movies like this will be a daring step taken by the director and the producers. So, hats off to Karan Johar too.

+ points:

The movie stands OUT OF THE BOX. It has got no peppy-party songs. No six packs. No item girls. No "Meri paas maa hai"-kind of dialogs. In short, no place for exaggeration. No place for commercialism. But, a motive to deliver a good quality at the same time enjoyable movie.

The movie has other good elements too. Music. Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy team has again done a good job. The songs are not like "out of the blue, the hero and the heroine start dancing in Switzerland" or "dancing in a discotheque"(which I have already told u). The songs go very well with the story. It actually BLENDS with the story. The music is nothing sort of new experimentations and all, but all songs are good to hear and hum.Especially, the title song "Wake Up Sid". It just sticks to your mind. The songs are like the types you must have listened to in "Life In a Metro" or "Taare Zameen Par" - with the soothing guitar in almost all the songs and lyrics by Javed Akthar that speak in simple but wonderful words about life.

Cinematographer Anil Mehta and Art Director Sumayya Shaikh have a very good role in the film, in making the movie so colorful. Especially, when Sid joins the company as a photographer, there these two guys show their talent.

Konkana Sen Sharma - hmm.. now the acting part. I would say, as far as the acting is concerned, only Konkana Sen sharma has done a really good job. No wonder. She has got a very good track record. Be it "Mr & Mrs Iyer" or "Life In a Metro". Her acting is so natural - which is very much needed for this movie.

- points:

Ranbir Kapoor being in the main role, COULD HAVE done much better. Of course, he hasnt got that much expertise. But, its good on his part to switch to more serioous roles like this. Clever guy. Else he will be stereotyped for a chocolate-boy type. Yes, its time to learn from such good roles. And this role in particular, he has shown great improvements when compared to his previous movies. Way to go, Ranbir.

The movie's run time is 138 minutes, i.e 2 hrs and 18 mins, which is too much for a simple plot. Of course, this is about real life, and you have got so much to tell. but, the more you tell, the more you deviate from what you actually want to tell. Only, that part has slowed down the movie. Either the movie should be short or the screenplay should have received more care.

So, In toto, "Wake Up Sid" is a DIFFERENT and QUALITY BOLLYWOOD movie, which you must have known, is very rare.

My Rating is : 3.8 out of 5 - a MUST WATCH film.

The DVD is still not out. But here is the audio release: