Wake Up Sid (2009)

Being my second Bollywood flick, I was rather eager to view this, a movie recommended by someone I know. Now after watching it online, I won’t say I hated it, but I didn’t particularly love it either…or even like it. It was just OK. I’ve seen a ton of tamil films, and most are crap, but no matter what, there is this sense of realism in most of those films due to how they are usually about really poor people suffering, while this, was about a really privileged dude who needs to pick up his life, and become a better person…and then the second half of the movie throws on this typical rom com story that just slowly killed any liking I had of the movie. There are never any perils, just us viewing a spoiled brat being spoiled, and even at the lowest points of his life, life is on a silver platter for him.  

The biggest problem of this film was that there was this sense of detachment from the start, I’m not sure why butI i just could never really feel for most of the characters except Sids father/mother. But even then it was just me reflecting on my own parents. As the film uses a ton of stereotypical characters and throws in sentiments to make the audience feel like they can relate a lot, but to me, those tricks don’t go down too easily. The full movie is definitely much better than most Tamil films as far as technical aspects go, and even script writing, but unfortunately, it’s not much. The main actor though, I have to give points to, as while he looks like a dude whose probably much older than the character he plays, he manages to come off as a young guy, due to his acting. Also, the montages were just…really boring.

In wake up Sid Ranbir Kapoor makes for good viewing, what with his simple Tom Hankslike demeanour. The story takes place in my beloved Mumbai. On the day they first meet, Sid takes new-girl in town Aisha to where else but Marine Drive! Aisha is admirable in her ambition and independence, moving alone from Calcutta to the big city, hoping to realise her dreams of becoming a writer and give free download. It’s really cool how she let him tumpang at her rented apartment with such plutonic fashion. Yet later on, she finds she has developed feelings for the boy she earlier called ‘not grown up’ – and she seems to be in shadow when it comes to this – they end up fighting easily. Sid is a dropout who leaves home after a fight with mum and dad, a rich kid who learns things the hard way when his card has no more credit and when he stays hungry at home waiting for Aisha to return from work, and eventually learns to cook an egg from the neighbour! Touching and delicately made. Looking forward for more Ranbir 🙂