Wake Up Sid


Wake Up Sid is a 2009 Indian Hindi-language coming-of-age drama film written and directed by Ayan Mukerji and produced by Karan Johar's Dharma Productions, the film was distributed by UTV Motion Pictures, with visual effects contributed by the Prime Focus Group. The film takes place in contemporary Mumbai and tells the story of a careless, rich brat Sid Mehra, a college student who is taught the value of owning up to responsibility by Aisha, an aspiring writer from Kolkata. It was a critical and commercial success. Both Kapoor and Sharma won rave reviews for their performances, and Kapoor received awards and nominations for his acting.

Plot

Siddharth "Sid" Mehra is a gifted, talented, super qualified brainiac, yet an extremely lazy and carefree college student in his early twenties living in Mumbai. He hates school and he can't even bother to study and try to understand the concept of his courses. His imagination, creativity and talent for art are often disregarded and ignored. Depicted as a spoiled, lazy slacker, Sid shows little concern for his plans after graduating, just barely studying for tests the night before and having no interest in working. His father, Ram Mehra is a wealthy tycoon who wants his son Sid to excel while his mother Sarita is a housewife often frustrated by Sid's incompetence yet puts up with behaviour, ending up pampering him.
While writing his final exam in the exam hall, Sid struggles throughout the entire duration of the exam, nervously unsure of each question whereas all of his classmates including his best friends confidently progress through their test papers, having intensely studied long and hard in advance. Sid imagines some classmates insulting and demoralizing him, while his friends give him words of encouragement. Hoping to answer enough questions correctly to at least pass, Sid feels confident to finish his test. Right after the exams are over, Sid and his friends go out on a shopping spree across the city for a day of fun. At the farewell party after the final exams, Sid meets Aisha Banerjee, an aspiring writer recently moved away from her hometown of Calcutta, who happens to be one of his college mate's roommate. They decide to go for a small walk and strike a chord instantly. With the help of Sid, Aisha finds a small apartment overlooking the city skyline. She also lands a job at Mumbai Beat, a hip magazine run by editor-in-chief Kabir Chaudhary, to whom Aisha is instantly attracted.
When the final exam results come out a few weeks later, much to his misery, Sid learns that he failed while the rest of his classmates aced the exams with great-to-decent grades, this delaying his graduation for at least another year. Sid displaces his anger and frustration onto Rishi and goes home to sulk. He then gets angry at parents, ending with him hastily moving out after an extremely upset, livid blowout. Sid sets off to the apartment that he helped Aisha renovate. Aisha allows Sid to temporarily stay at her apartment but finds him disorganized and careless with her home. One night, Aisha loses her temper and berates Sid for his inability to look after himself. The next morning, Sid confides in Aisha that he now realizes his constant dependence on his father's wealth, a realization that persuades him to seek work. Aisha helps him land a job as a photography intern – photography has been an interest of his since childhood – at Mumbai Beat.
The internship slowly motivates Sid to be more responsible, hardworking, and productive. He helps out with chores, an internal change visible to all around him. He reconciles with Rishi when they meet again for the first time since their falling out. Sid eventually gets hired full-time at Mumbai Beat and receives his first paycheck. He immediately goes to visit his father for the first time in months to show him the paycheque and he nostalgically asks Sid to return home. In the meantime, Aisha and Kabir start dating, but she quickly realizes that, despite her initial attraction to him, they have very little in common. Aisha also dislikes Sid's closeness with the designing intern Tanya. This leads Aisha to develop feelings for Sid, and on the day he packs his belongings to move back in with his family, she is furious and heartbroken to hear that he is leaving. Confused and hurt, unaware that Aisha has fallen in love with him, Sid makes his departure.
Back at home, Sid keeps thinking about Aisha. He discovers that he has brought Aisha's shirt with his belongings. Sid wears her shirt and reminisces about her while Aisha at her home speaks to her parents as she feels lonely after Sid's departure. The next morning, Sid receives the latest issue of Mumbai Beat. He reads Aisha's column, an article describing her adjustment to life in Mumbai and her love for an unnamed person. Realizing that the article is about her feelings for him, Sid rushes through rainy weather to meet her at the seafront where they walked the day they met. Sid expresses his love for her and the two embrace.

Cast

Box office

Wake Up Sid opened well in India and overseas markets. Its opening weekend gross was of which the domestic gross was. It was number one in the box office during its first and second weeks, number four during its third week, and number three during its fourth week.
In the United Kingdom, the film collected US$165,934, while in the US, the collections were US$717,977. By its fourth week, it grossed $348,351 in New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Do Knot Disturb also released during the same time, but Wake Up Sid got a larger portion of the audience.

Critical reception

Wake Up Sid was well received by a number of critics. Subhash K. Jha gave Wake Up Sid a rave review stating that it is, "a triumph on many levels Ayan Mukherjee takes the age-old dramatic conflicts of our commercial cinema into understated corridors." Rajeev Masand of CNN-IBN gave the film three out of five stars, stating that Wake Up Sid "has its heart in the right place and marks the breakout of a bright, shining star who has come into his own so early in his acting career. Watch it, and be awestruck by Ranbir." Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama gave the film four out of five stars as well as a "thumbs up" stating that it is "strongly recommended."
Mayank Shekhar of the Hindustan Times gave it 3.5 out of four stars and states, "Wake Up Sid belongs to a sweet genre that, without doubt, flows on from Farhan Akhtar's Dil Chahta Hai: part Hollywood; part Bollywood; mostly coming-of-age; subtly romantic; largely original; authentic in feel; light in weight; English in expression; Hindi in language." Avijit Ghosh of The Times of India gave it three and half out of four stars and suggests that, "Wake Up Sid becomes a sort of template of how GenNow navigate their lives: deal with their own little rebellions, find meaning to their own definitions of independence and handle their own set of mistakes. It feels good when the two friends finally meet in driving rain under the grey skies by the sea. Refreshing and heart-warming, Wake Up Sid really puts you in the mood for love." Noyon Jyoti Parasara of AOL India gave it three and half out of five stars and praised the director saying, "Ayan Mukerji arrives in style and manages to leave his own mark on the film despite having a producer like Karan Johar whose other productions always tend to have his stamp. Wake Up Sid really puts you in the mood for love."
Joginder Tuteja of the Indo-Asian News Service calls the film "flawless" and gave it three and a half stars. He states: "There are five things that make Wake Up Sid a delightful affair. It has a constant flow throughout; no over the top or understated drama; no ultra emotional strangulation of audiences; absolutely no yuppie cool dude act; and last but not the least, this is an original and refreshing story." Rachel Saltz of The New York Times argues that: "With no big production numbers, a quiet style and credible characters, Wake Up Sid is Bollywood in an indie mood, a film for people like Aisha and Sid: young and educated. It may not be as hip as Bombay Beat, the magazine where the two work, but it shows that Mr. Mukherji is a director to watch."
In one point of criticism, Sudhish Kamath of Chennai's The Hindu labeled the closing moments as a "stock ending" and noted that, despite the film's overall effectiveness, the ending "leaves you a little disappointed." Variety's Joe Leydon found the film "instantly forgettable", but praised the performances of Kapoor and Sharma, as well noting how "effortlessly appealing" the movie is, stating: "...this atypically low-key Bollywood romantic comedy somehow manages to remain pleasantly diverting throughout its 138-minute running time."

Controversy

On 2 October, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena supporters protested to halt the screening of Wake Up Sid in Mumbai and Pune. The MNS objected the use of the word "Bombay" instead of "Mumbai" in the movie.

Shooting

The movie was entirely shot in Mumbai, covering the South and Bandra Side. The college sequence was shot at H.R. College of Commerce and Economics near Churchgate.

Trivia

Soundtrack

The soundtrack has music composed by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy with lyrics by Javed Akhtar. The music was released on 21 August 2009. One song in the film has been composed by Amit Trivedi who scored the background music for the film.

Reception

The reactions towards the music were favorable. Chandrima Pal of Rediff gave the album 3.5 stars, stating, "the music sticks to the brief. It is hip, urban and bubbly, and unhurried. And thanks to Shankar Ehsaan Loy's musicianship, it is a slick, well-balanced production". Joginder Tuteja gave it 3 stars out of possible 5, suggesting that, "this may not really turn out to be the best seller of the year but should certainly be a perfect fit for the narrative."