WAKE UP SID - Movie Review : An old plot wrapped in a New Age package with nothing exceptional. (Review By Bobby Sing)

To be straight, if you are expecting yet another, youthful movie on the lines of “Dil Chahta Hai” or “Rang De Basanti” then you may feel a bit low after watching “Wake Up Sid”, since the movie has nothing refreshing to show about the vibrant college life or energetic celebrating days of the youth. In fact, it hasn’t got the rich & colorful content as projected by its interesting promotional campaign and movie stills.

The movie starts off in a light mood, where Ranbir is shown lazily preparing for his college exams. Later he meets Konkona in a late night party, who has just arrived in Mumbai and becomes her first friend in the city. With more e-mail exchanges and Ranbir helping her decorating her new flat, a friendly relationship starts building between the two. But all this just keeps happening in a very laid off manner and the viewer desperately waits for something more interesting to unfold on the screen. Till intermission the only scene which rises above the usual stuff is the interview scene between Rahul Khanna & Konkona.

In the second half, as Ranbir leaves his parent’s house, the movie starts endorsing live in relationship with a cool attitude. Along with that, the story has the same old clashes between rich and middle class ways of living with an added rotten plot of two love triangles incorporated lightly into the script. Keeping more emphasis on the main characters, the writers strangely leave out the parents (Anupam Kher & Supriya Pathak) out of the narration and bring them in whenever they feel like. According to the script the parents don’t even care to know the whereabouts of their only son, after leaving his house in anger.  

However, the movie has its moments with few worth watching scenes representing the current generation. One, when both Ranbir and his friend laugh at the break up story. Two, when Konkona and Ranbir play around with water bottles and three the birthday scene at Konkona’s flat. With more such scenes, the movie could have been the latest talk of the town among the younger generation. Moreover, a completely predicable climax also leaves the viewer less entertained in the end. The climax required a great amount of trimming since the movie drags a lot towards its concluding moments. 

Performance wise it’s a Konkona movie entirely where she leads from the front with her simple yet gorgeous looks. Her sensuous and soft dialogue delivery wins over the viewer in the first scene itself. Konkona handles Ranbir just like a mature understanding lady, in love with a young innocent boy. Ranbir tries very hard to act real but it’s the fault of the misleading promos that his character looks like lacking the refreshing & interesting look shown in the promotional campaign of the movie. Otherwise he has done a fine job in the role of a confused youngster. Rahul Khanna, Anupam Kher and Kashmira Shah play their small roles impact fully, but Supriya Pathak fails to generate any laughter with her faulty English.

Musically, the soundtrack has nothing capable of making you go dancing or singing. An unexpected let down from Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy and Amit Trivedi. On the other hand, Cinematography captures Mumbai in a cool manner. In short, director Ayan Mukerjee delivers a simple project based on a routine storyline, which moves at a slow pace and has nothing extraordinary or exceptional as expected. 

On second thoughts I also have some questions in mind regarding the projects which you may find interesting too.

Why there always have to be a “Hamming Mother Character” in Karan Johar Productions movie, which is supposed to provide a comic relief to the viewers. (Like Kiron Kher in “Dostana” & Supriya Pathak in “Wake Up Sid”)

Why we always have to make movies on love stories alone?