Wake Up Sid is genteel
Over the years, my expectation from Karan Johar movies have steadily declined to the point that despite the good music and good promos I didn’t have much expectations from Wake Up Sid. But cut to the end of the first half, and I thoroughly liked the movie.
Wake Up Sid is a simple story based on the coming of age genre and compared to other recent Bollywood films in this genre like Lakshya or DCH, the story line for Wake Up Sid is much simpler and the canvas smaller. Unlike the protagonist of Lakshya who redeems himself by battling against Pakistan in the Himalayas, here the protagonist merely manages to get a job as a photographer in a magazine. The redemption story is no more grandiose or dramatic. But there are a few reasons why with seemingly bland narrative and storyline the movie still works.
Why the movie works is because for the most part the movie stays believable, realistic and likable. The music of the film, though almost one dimensional expect for the Iktara track, actually serves as good situational music. The scene conceptions and dialogues are quite natural and realistic. Majorly though, it rides heavily on the performances of its lead actors. Konkona Sen Sharma pulls off another wonderful performance. Ever the earthy and realistic next door girl, unlike her most other roles where she ends up being the loser, not getting the guy, here for a change she doesn’t cry and instead has a bright road ahead. Ranbir Kapur for once and for all proves that he can really act. He carries off his role with absolute ease. Doesn’t overact, doesn’t suffer from mannerisms, just the right treatment meted out to Sid’s character. Actually the biggest reason why Wake Up Sid works is because of Ranbir Kapoor’s affable portrayal of the central character.
While the story and screen play of the film avoids all the melodramas and Bollywood cliches, it does appear to be undercooked a bit. The biggest grouse being it’s too flat and bland. It’s alright to not have all the rona dhona and stereotypes but the movie could have definitely done with a bit of humour. Jane Tu Ya Jane Na had a tremendous comedy element and that gave the movie a major lift. Here, the mood of the movie is thoroughly monotonous in the absence of a single comic scene. Also, while it has been shown how Konkona’s character loves Sid, the other way round hasn’t been explored. Sid’s journey from friendship to love has been covered in under two minutes. That aside, the music also could have done with a bit of depth. Here, barring the Iktara song and the song right in the end when it starts raining (which is not there in the album?) the music is again monotonous. Actually the music being so one dimensional made me think before I saw the movie that it’s going to be a rich kid’s cliched bollywood coming of age movie. I’m happy it didn’t turn out that way.
While I’d say that the film is terrific up to the interval, as the movie ends, I felt a little let down on account of absence of a little more depth or drama. When I look back and ponder over some movies which have really hit me, I realise there was this constant factor in them that the screen play altered its pace at places, hitting peaks and troughs and changing in intensity. Here, a lot like “Luck By Chance”, the film stays in the same intensity most of the time.
To sum up, while I enjoyed the movie, and it’s a fresh movie with great performances and without the usual melodrama and cliches, I do feel that it’s a tad undercooked and it could have done with some hilarity and fun. Add a little more fun and humour, it could have been a perfect movie.
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
I too feel that the movie held its narrative too flat throughout the movie. The first half did end on a intense note, with the Sid-Dad showdown but then it tapered down again to the same flat style of delivery post-interval.
ANd as the movie is going to be compared to Dil Chahta Hai – the theme being quite similar, I will say that DCH had in it – apart from three brilliant actors and good music, a palpable tension in the writing. The actors constantly emoted their feelings and thought. This aspect seemed to have been missed in WUS. Yes, Ranbir does justice to his role but the support cast have been set aside too much into the periphery. The friends should have played a much more vital role in the movie – especially when Sid walks out of his home after the fight since the friendship goes back 5 years, and with one buddy – right from Sid’s schooldays.
Anyhow, the movie was all right. Expected it to be good but well, it’s, not something I’d watch again for some time.
On the contrary I felt it was just perfect. I agree it could have been better as there is nothing as absolute but to see something so fresh from Dharma production was a treat. IMHO this is the best Dharma production from the time of KKHH…personally I loved the simplicity and realism. When the film started I had a fear that it should not turn melodramatic at the end…No doubt DCH was a great film but it also turned melodramatic at the end with Amir going to Preity’s house and doing all those hangama….nothing wrong in it…its just that as a viewer we are so used to Drama that we expect it from each and every movie…I loved WUS this way…simple and no frills attached….a great performance by Ranvir and Konkona…a good start to the week
Hi Sourav, I gave u a vote, but my mistake it got reduced to zero :-(. I second what u say about Wake Up Sid. It works for me cos of its ’slice of life’ realistic approach, the detailing (evident even in the getup of the Mumbai Beats mag), the underplaying of things – after all, how many of us experience high drama in our lives? The film’s lack of external drama appealed to me. I also felt (I dnt know if anyone would agree) that the beautiful Iktara song somehow captures all the anticipation of monsoon in Mumbai, the one beautifully visualized for Konkona by Ranbir.
Also,just an addition. I like the fact that the movie explored the simple joys of life. Like making an omelette for the first time…tasting raindrops on your tongue…being comfortable in silent companionship on the rooftop – with or without a cup of warm cocoa :-)
I too second sourav, Wake up sid was one of a wonderful movie…,no need to compare it with DCH, and rohith what ever you have sid is missing in wus, if were there, it would have been just a remake of DCH.., WuS has been treated so beautifully specially the first seen between konkana and ranbir is just awsome.. it looked so natural i felt in love with that scene @ that time, Ranbir being so natural in the character of sid.The only thing it lacked was the music.. but again IKtara is on top. and i really appreciate the dialogue and screenplay writer, even a simple story was so well narrated, scene after scene i fell in love with the movie . and i likked the part after intermission, sid’s realizing (waking up) gradually was so wonderful.. it had so many beautiful scenes. If i mention those will be spoilers.and the camera work, cinematography and art direction, specially konkans home is a feast for the eyes. over all most cute and beautiful movies of recent times. you will simply fall in love with the character sid( and the actor ranbir kapoot) and kudos to ayan
well i kinda liked the movie…sweet and simple…no melodrama and too much of rona-shona or something…. photography was awesome, performances were brilliant and the background score by Amit Trivedi was lovely…It just came to my knowledge now that there were five additional tracks composed by Amit Trivedi as part of background score…. These were composed later, so they weren’t included in the album, and oh these tracks were so beautiful, especially the male version of Iktara, the proper punjabi one this time…. dying to get it… hope they release it in a separate cd or something…. or along with Kurbaan’s soundtrack hopefully…
I too was feeling the same about the background score and songs. Hope they release them too….
I have to second to the reviewer and even the comments. Comparisons are bound to happen, but I guess WUS holds on its own. Konkana’s role is actually as important as Ranbir’s. If it was any other actor, I think the impact would have been otherwise. For ex..Deepika spoiled Love Aaj Kal.
Only one thing I would like to add…I found the music addictive. Initially I liked Iktara and to an extent Wake up sid title track. But now I kind of like all the songs especially Aaj kal…song…like the way Shankar goes high pitch singing tere liye…
Its not a cult movie but very much watchable. Much better than the crap that comes out in the name of entertainment. I as audience will be more than happy if bigger production houses gives such movies, unlike KI,DBH etc.
I still stand by what I felt of the movie – there is no urge in me to watch it a second time, which tells me that it did not work for me.
And the reason why it didn’t work for me is still the lack of tension in the movie. The heartline of the movie is flat – there are no peaks and trough to keep me interested enough (save for the pre-interval scene, which I thought was very good. As was the use of the hand-held camera to convey the edginess of that moment).
I guess it is just me, but this movie falls in the bracket of DCH for me. The underlying theme is same – aimless men (except Akshaye Khanna – who ironically enough was ‘Sid’ in that movie!) not knowing what they want to do with life. I guess their aimlessness was captured better, and the turn in their life also delivered better. I could see the transition in Aamir Khan’s charatcer in the movie. The same transition is hardly noticeable in this one – save for Sid learning to make the perfect egg.
I do not have anything against the movie, but it just didn’t cut it for me.
But I will say that the dialogues, to a great extent, were very everydayish and thus adding more credence to the movie. And the song ‘Iktara’ is pretty good!
Does according to you 40+ actors playing characters of college guys, or lip sync songs put after every half an hour make a movie better? I hv nothing against DCH, but it was a sheer masala movie(with perfect direction and acting), while WuS is definitely a new age genre movie with a realistic aproach to it. and y u r again nd again comparing it with DCH. DCH was only about the protagonist’s and his friends realization of true love. while the sid’s version is about awakening towards responsibility, reality and love ( which was a little part of it). so i think you should move away from the DCH and watch it again from a fresh angle.
and the flatness(no highs and lows) was the beauty of the movie, because that is not the flatness, its the director being to the point and not wandering away from the theme and that jut takes away the drama part of it.
One more thing i still don’t understand from ur posts that how was the transition of amir khan was better than Sid. he also realized it in a moment just after watching the opera. where was the transition. while sid had cleary good reason for all the transition he went through. for e.g. (Spoiler ahead) the scene where he keeps the konkanas house clean, any body with sid’s personality will do the same, because according to him he once in his lifetime made some food and then konkana’s cuss word was a strike on his ego, and the realization happens. or the photography session making him realizing about her mother’s love or the first paycheck making him realizing about his mistake. so which is the better transistion. one with all the masala, and one with the real approach. Still i dont have any complaints with DCH, but please dont compare WuS with DCH
Like I said, this movie clearly didn’t work for me to the extent that I would watch it again. But it has worked for you.
We can leave it at that.
And as I have said before, I thought the dialogues were written well. Ranbir has acted well. Konkana is good at any role she takes up. Music was okay except for ‘Iktara’, which was very good.
And if we are talking about DCH, the transition point starts right after the fight with Sid. Aakash (Aamir) apologizing to Sameer (Saif) at the airport for the gags he has pulled on him, without thinking if any of them made Sameer feel bad. The tone with which Aakash apoligizes is also important because he is slightly hesitant – it is not something he has done before. This, I believe, came after a little bit of introspection after the fight with Sid. Aakash was too proud to be the first to apologize for his actions.
And yes, he does realize his love for Preity at the Opera. But she knew all along and was just hoping he would see it too. And then the call he mistakenly makes to Akshaye from Sydney, when he was thinking he was calling Saif. Once he realized whom he had called, his finally knew what it was that drew Akshaye to Dimple.
Yes, DCH was essentially about love and friendship. And the climax was very filmy. But the whole thing worked for me. It had me rooting for the charatcters.
Whereas with WuS, I do not feel any kind of an empathy with Sid. This is why there is a dichotomy is how I feel about the two movies. WuS has its moments – and most of it involves Ranbir with his parents (the fight scene and the scene where Ranbir goes to meet his mom; both were done very well). The rest of the movie was okay.
But I am glad that it works for others. That is the charm of movies – what may be game for me, may not be your cup of tea. And we can live with it!
And just a general note: it is good to see Karan Johar exploring other genres. ‘Kurbaan’ looks good and then there is ‘My Name is Khan’. Karan Johar has certainly woken up to his art, and I wish him the best and hope that minor stumbles do not force him back to his tried-and-tested movie formulas.
and For my name is khan , i m waiting 4 SRK, i hope he had done well to play an autistic character, it is exciting to see SRK being silent in a movie.. that too after RNBDJ, (where he plays the loudest of his charcters)
‘Autistic’ does not mean the character will be silent in the movie…
- traits of autistic people:http://autism.about.com/od/inspirationideas/tp/besttraits.htm
Solid review. Have just got back from the movie. I didn’t feel the lack of outright hilarious moments, though. JTYJN had several moments of deliberate humour which worked within its context, but WUS was simply effortless.