Thursday, December 3, 2009

Wake Up Sid movie review

The plot is a simple coming of age story with a slight twist where Karan Johar (as producer) and Ayan Mukerji (the director as well as being one of the script-writers) bring together the unlikely 'jodi' (couple) of Konkana Sen (what will she take to get her makeup artist to put makeup on her neck to hide her age!?!) and Ranbir Kapoor. Aisha plays the role of a Calcutta-brought-up girl (if 28 year old woman can be called a girl) who comes to Mumbai looking for her independence. On her first night in Mumbai she meets the rich spoilt brat in the shape of Ranbir Kapoor whom she invites for a walk but is quick to point out to him that she doesn't have any ulterior meaning behind it (means sex, I guess as the word can't be mentioned in a Bollywood movie!). She is also quick to allay the mother's apprehensions about the same point when Sid's mom (Suriya Pathak) comes to Aisha's place to check it out.

Usual themes of mother-son and father-son relationship are handled as they would be in any other Bollywood movie but with a little more finesse than usual. The father-son relationship rift ends when the son presents his first salary cheque to his dad. Mother-son relationship gets healed when Sid recognizes that the love that his mother has for him is much more powerful than her lack of English-speaking background.
We have the sexy siren who lives next-door to Aisha and dares to talk about female sexuality with her over a glass of wine. But, alas it was not to be besides the trite observations that Sid as well as the Mumbai Beats editor (Rahul Khanna) were sexy and one should get on 'top of him'. But, then after giving a teaser where one hoped that an Indian director would explore some finer nuances of Indian female sexuality, the director pans out to another scene. Such a waste! Maybe, we could have had some exposes and disclosures like in “Sex and the City “ and the vagina monologue.
Mukerji follows the very conventional pattern of not letting the relationship get consummated (maybe because Sid couldn't get it up as he was so drunk one night when it was likeliest to happen - hee hee) till post-the-movie in one's imagination when the two major parties have declared their love for another. Grow up, Mukerji! Pre-marital sex is a fact of life. It is unlikely that two grown adults staying together for some time in the same flat in todays day and age won’t consummate their relationship (although I will concede that there is a miniscule chance of it happening). However, the picture that Mukerji has presented about Bollywoods Heights where sex is pure and unsullied till marriage ensures that the delicate sensibilities of the Indian audience are not offended. The mullah (money) rolls in and one can hear the box-office bells ringing which I guess is good.
Also, hope Mukerji did not have any ulterior suggestion/message when he kept on focusing on eggs that would not fry properly. Maybe, the eggs were a metaphorical allusion to Aisha’s ovaries (eggs, dummy) that Sid could not (uhhmmm) maybe reach because of his 'child'ish behavior.
However, the movie does have a couple of cool moments when Mukerji shows Aisha declaring Sid to be a child who needs to grow up. And, then being told by her boss that she herself needs to grow up and catch up on serious music - as apparently Hindi old songs are not serious music in Rahul Khanna’s opinion. That was one flat relationship where the boss is seen as a very smooth character who doesn't develop much. The editor, however, does give the sanction for Aisha's column to be published where she professes her undying love for the boy-man that brings together the two love-birds in the end.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wake_Up_Sid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcVYJl-dQHI - link to the very popular iktara song from the movie.

1 comment:

  1. These guys were not affectionate towards each other. In fact they had no feeling of love towards each other. That's why no consumation of relationship [as there was no relationship].

    Find me a neighborhood with as sexy a lass as Kashmira Shah as neighbor :p

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