Get serious in life! Just how many films have we watched with that overdone theme before! Wake Up Sid does just that.
Sitting there, with husband D and friend S by my side, those visuals took me straight back to Dil Chahta Hai, touted widely way back in 2002 as the coming of age kind. Over the past year, other films in this genre have made their mark too! We've had Luck By Chance, watched Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na and rocked with Rock On. Their stories were not the get-serious message oriented, but their scripts were, and targeted straight at youngsters.
Wake Up Sid more or less fits into the genre. Every scene of the film appeals to you, because you relate to its characters, its dialogues, and its sets. The somewhat closer to life film has its message etched right through, but does not get preachy. It took me straight back to Dil Chahta Hai. Peppy dialogues. Trendy clothes. Real places.
And while one is overloaded with backdrops from different countries for films, this one is refreshing for its closer home feel. Dil Chahta Hai had Goa. Wake Up Sid has Bombay (Mumbai did we hear?). A breathtaking terrace view of the sea and boats, the typical and overdone, yet very likable Marine Drive promenade, those little narrow lanes in the neighbourhood...some outdoors you take home with you.
Renting a studio flat and turning it into a dream nest is something most migrants dream of. When Sid and his friends help Aisha do just that, you wow at it. It could also be something as simple as converting a few slices of bread into a birthday cake, or Sid's mother desperately talking in English with that faint hope that someday she can become his...friend.
That generation gap and familial conflict between parents and youngsters of the current generation is handled by the director with some finesse. Small roles, but notice the pain that comes through when Anupam Kher and Supriya Pathak react to Sid's failing at college.
Or that scene where Sid's pizza bill is paid by someone who hates him at college, only for him to discover how he usurped her merit seat thanks to daddy dear's influence.
Artfully done and crafted with realism, Wake Up Sid is a reflection of today's society, at least part of it if not the whole.
The only issue is that while its plot is predictable, it looks repackaged. It's the script's sensitivity that saves the film. For instance, Sid has to land in a magazine conveniently, just as Aisha has. Branding of products has been done cleverly and taken advantage of. You are not spared those bright colours that make up for a magazine office, despite their giving that real feel to the place.
Wish the complexities and older woman-younger guy came through better. Effort has been made. Many scenes bring through some of them to fore too, primarily through Konkana's brilliance. But what about those self-doubts that plague one's mind during such attraction? And that million dollar question: Will it work?
Nevertheless, its a film worth the money you pay.
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