Wake Up Sid - My Take

One of the many conclusions that came out after watching Wake Up Sid is that, 'Ranbeer can act!' After seeing his last movie, Bachna Ae Haseeno, it kind of got into me that this chap is just another star son and probably won’t much of an actor. He for sure did turn the tables around and portrayed the ever exploited character of Indian youth with a new perspective and I must say, it didn’t look the usual stereotype, err… okay, at times he did but this was all with a fresh appeal.

The script has been nicely woven and the writer – director Ayan must be complimented with the efforts he puts in. He took the story taking to a new level. The movie revolves around the usual stuff, probably seen many times in the history of Indian cinema (C’mon, every movie has a clueless youngster, Dil Chahta Hain had, Lakshya had, Jane Tu Ya Jane Na had and they all did great).

The cliché breaking stint goes directly in the favour of the director and his wonderful rendition of the story that has been ringing in your sub conscious for a long time now. Oh, I forgot to mention, the performances by Ranbeer, Konkona, Anupoam Kher and Supriya Pathak are equally responsible for setting it a class apart.

The movie that revolves around a story of a clueless youngster (much like the ones from the trio of DCH) can boast about a gripping first half and you just can’t help yourself getting engrossed. The first half is pretty balanced with some great comic punches and fresh dialogues. Konkona plays an aspiring writer who comes down to Bombay (err… ‘Mumbai’, damn my freedom of speech) looks easy on the screen. It is because of her superb acting that once often forgets the fact that he is just watching a movie.

The second half is comparatively of a slightly lower quality as compared to the first. The comic punches miss out on the intensity and the frequency but that’s when the scenes that may cause a tear or two take over. The end could have been better and I wish there was more weight and logic to the long dialect of that of Konkana’s towards the end. I personally realized the movie ended too abruptly and I wish it didn’t ended so soon.

The father son interactions look nothing less than real and everyone could relate to the sequences where in Anupam Kher delivers one of its best as a successful business man and a defeated father. Surpiya Pathak is one fine actor and she reinforces the same portraying her character of a wannabe English speaking mom just in attempt to be closer to his son. I seriously think that no one could have carried off that role as well as she did.

Anil Mehta as a cinematographer did a brilliant job and some of the frames are captivating. The cinematographer actually enhances the beauty of the movie ten folds and backs up the director beautifully lending credibility and a bunch of marvels to the movie.

Music is once point where the movie seems to be lagging behind. You hardly notice the songs that were played in the first half because they didn’t appear to be even half as strong as the movie’s first half. Though, Wake Up Sid, the title track is an exception (the reason being, it was played during the opening titles) and is nicely rendered by Shankar Mahadevan. One can’t deny the fact that Iktara is a winner all the way and it is the only song other than the title song that stays with you, even after the movie is over.

The music is splendid in isolation but when put in the music, it just couldn’t meet my exception. I would rate music as 4.5 out of if the movie’s music is all what I had got. The lyrics are nice and fresh and it was great to see Javed Akhtar attempting songs like Life is Crazy. One major flaw with the background score is that it often gives you the impression of the song Maa (of Taarein Zameen Par) being played, I agree its SEL’s (Shankar, Ehsaan and Loy) best but the audience is not much in favour of repetitions. The background score at other instances wasn’t that impressive either but it picked up towards the end of the movie.

All in all, Wake Up Sid is made up of all small incidents and you just need to give into it rather than being critical to analyse or compare it with the previous versions of the same story. In order to enjoy the movie, it is advisable that you go with close friends, who share the desire to ‘watch’ with you rather than looking it as a weekend getaway and would go to any extent making fun of the intense situations in the movie. Chose your companion for this movie wisely and you it will be worthwhile.

I would rather give it 4 out of 5 and would recommend watching it for sure. It is something that should top the list of the movies-to-watch this week. I am yet to see Acid Factory (it releases next week) while Do Knot Disturb is typically David Dhavan. You never know, you may get inspired (or steal in ideas) in more than one way. So, try it!

Piyush Singh

www.piyushsingh.com

Copyrights: Piyush Singh - 2009-2010

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