Wake Up Sid!

Caught the first day first show! Technically, that would be false because there were preview shows the day before.

I had gone to the theater without much expectations, looking to watch 'some grow up, come to age movie'. In truth it was the slick posters and the good music that got me there.

I was pleasantly surprised and enjoyed the movie every bit! The movie's success is its simplicity and its ability to connect with just about every average Indian youngster. Any youngster would easily identify with the quintessential slacker Sid, played wonderfully by Ranbir Kapoor. The movie perfectly captures that utterly confused time in life when you have finished college and have no idea what you want to do in life. Sid has had as comfortable a life as anyone can wish for. He has always gotten whatever he wanted. The movie starts with the final days of college, with exams, farewells and parties. These parts are sure to bring back some of the memories from the good old days, especially if you have just passed out of college. Sid's friends are everything to him and his life is one long party. He takes all the good things in life for granted, including his family. The way he gets irritated with his mother's attempts at communicating with her 'young man' of a son reminded me of such moments with my own mother. So, when college gets over and Sid's father tries to engage him in the family business, it comes as quite a shock to him. A few days in the office and he can take no more of it, so Sid slips out and his father also gives up on trying to get him back to office. The turning point in the story comes when all his friends pass the exams and Sid fails. A confrontation with his father leads him to leave his house.

Meanwhile, Ayesha, played by Konkona Sen Sharma, is a slightly older girl, a new immigrant to Mumbai, the city of her dreams, with the definite goal of becoming a writer. She is the exact opposite of Sid. They have a chance meeting and strike a great friendship. Sid and his gang of friends help the new girl in town settle down. When Sid barges out of his house, he moves in with Ayesha. Soon though, Ayesha gets exasperated by Sid's childish irresponsibility and ends up having a tiff with him. This leads him to look at himself in a new light. He realises that he cant even make an 'undaa' by himself and decides that he has to get a job and a goal in his life. Sid gets an internship with the magazine that Ayesha works at and the rest of the movie is about how he finally gets a meaning to his life, gets a job that he likes and how the unlikely pair start falling for each other.

There are parts in the movie that are definite feel good moments such as when he slips in to the house to apologise to his mother and when he gives his first paycheck to his father.

The father is played by Anupam Kher, who has done a good job. Konkona Sen Sharma is, as always, outstanding. Supriya Pathak does justice to the role of the loving mother. Rahul Khanna has a cameo without much scope as Ayesha's boss. Ranbir Kapoor fulfills the role of the muddled, innocent guy perfectly. I have not watched any of his older movies to compare his performance to but this one definitely deserves a thumbs up!. I would congratulate Ayan Mukherjee on the good script, the direction and an entertaining movie. Anil Mehta's cinematography is remarkable. The music by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, as I mentioned earlier, is brilliant.

On the whole this movie is not one of those inspirational ones like Lakshya or Rang de Basanti but it will definitely strike a chord with the youth. If you are one of those people who is just finishing with college and are having one helluva confusing time thinking of what to do next, chances are you will love it.
[I'm one of them :)]
And if you expect an extra dose of bollywood masala just because you see Karan Johar's name on the poster, don't worry there's none of that.

interesting tidbit - Sid wears only Tshirts with Comic book characters in the first half of the movie, before he graduates to shirts and plain tshirts after 'waking up'. Probably to symbolise the childishness?