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Masand's movie review: Wake Up Sid refreshing
Published on Sat, Oct 03, 2009 at 01:22, Updated on Tue, Oct 06, 2009 at 03:50 in Entertainment section
Tags: Wake Up Sid, Ranbir Kapoor , Cast
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Cast: Ranbir Kapoor, Konkona Sen Sharma
Direction: Ayan Mukherji
There's a little bit of you and me and everyone we know in Siddharth Mehra, the spoilt rich-kid protagonist of director Ayan Mukherji's Wake Up Sid, the coming-of-age story of a directionless slacker played by Ranbir Kapoor.
Very content spending his days clubbing with friends and poring over comic books, Sid has no ambitions for the future. He forms an unlikely platonic friendship with the slightly-older Aisha (played by Konkona Sen Sharma), an earnest girl from Kolkata who has moved to Mumbai to pursue a career in journalism and an independent life. When Sid flunks college and refuses to join his dad's bathroom-fittings business, he finds himself out the door, his credit card revoked too, leaving him no option but to seek shelter at Aisha's modest apartment. Predictably, this kicks off his journey towards self-discovery.
Infusing a shopworn premise with honesty, and peppering the film with tender moments, director Ayan Mukherji creates an engaging enough drama that you're happy to emotionally invest in. Almost immediately after he snaps at his mother for trying to tidy up his room, Sid apologizes and offers her a T-shirt to fold. On learning that it's Aisha's birthday, he prepares an impromptu cake of bread slices and jam.
The casual, conversational style of dialogue makes it easy to relate to this film and its characters, even though their conflicts appear too superficial to take seriously. Hiccups are resolved quickly and conveniently, and to be honest it's hard to say exactly how and what has changed about Sid. By the end of the film, sure he can fry an egg, and he knows how to do the dishes too. And yes, he does land a job as a magazine photographer, but did he go through a catharsis? I'm sorry I missed it…
Because it's positioned as a realistic take on the urban youth, it's hard to understand why the director shies away from showing any sexual attraction between his leads, even well after it's clearly established that they've fallen for each other.
To be fair, in fact, Wake Up Sid might be described as a PG-13 version of a coming-of-age film what with its protagonist showing no signs of sexual awakening or romantic leanings at all. Strange that this 20-something fellow spends hours surfing the Internet looking up latest car models when most boys his age would be surfing porn.
It's Ranbir Kapoor and him alone who diverts your attention from the film's little flaws and spellbinds you with an endearing act that is Wake Up Sid's biggest strength. Using his eyes, his voice, his oddly-pitched laugh and the tiniest of tics to make a flesh-and-blood character out of Sid, Ranbir turns in what is easily one of the year's most confident and assured performances.
He's complemented to a large extent by Konkona Sen Sharma, who invests sincerity into Aisha, but seems too self-conscious to really make the part her own.
The film is refreshing for its unusual casting, with mostly unknown faces and even reclusive actors entrusted with important roles. Supriya Pathak brings depth to the part of Sid's English-challenged mum, and even Kashmira Shah is appropriately contained in a bit-part as Aisha's friendly neighbor. But praise must go out to Shikha Talsania and Namit Das who are spot-on as Sid's best-buds.
The film, despite its slow pace, is a competent effort by its debutant director who is credited with writing the story and screenplay too. It doesn't have the emotional punch or the witty charm of Farhan Akhtar's similarly-themed coming-of-age comedy, Dil Chahta Hai, but Wake Up Sid has an urgent innocence that is undeniable.
I'm going with three out of five for director Ayan Mukherji's Wake Up Sid; it has its heart in the right place and it marks the breakout of a bright, shining star who has come into his own so early in his acting career. Watch it, and be awestruck by Ranbir.
Rating: 3 / 5 (Good)
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Wake UP Sid is recommended after a spate of bad movies.
Ranbir\'s makes hiss presence felt in every frame
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I thought the movie was anything but refreshing. It was the same old trite account of a rich dad's squandering
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I loved the movie, and I liked your review
except the point of the sexual attraction between the two
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the movie is a refreshing change and is very near to reality..all the actors are wonderful with their roles. the
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when a new director is allowed to put his own creativity without any interference(like Yash raj used to do)the resultant
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