Film Review - Wake up Sid

The director is many a times touted as the captain of the ship and where Wake up Sid is concerned debutante director Ayaan Mukherjee has definitely lived up to that statement.
The film revolves essentially around two characters - the primary being Siddhart Mehra aka Sid (Ranbir Kapoor) the lazy, carefree, spoilt rich brat whose only consensus in life happens to be partying, sleeping and hanging out with his two best buddies Rishi (Namit Das) and Laxmi (Shikha Talsania). For him life is a holiday wherein he takes his father Ram Mehra’s (Anupam Kher) wealth for granted and his hinglish speaking mother Sarita’s (Supriya Pathak) emotions are ignored. On the other hand is the career oriented, focussed and ambitious Aisha Bannerjee (Konkona Sen Sharma), an aspiring writer from Kolkata, who has come to make it big in the city of Mumbai and not Bombay to be precise. When their lives intertwine and how they make each others lives complete is what forms the basic crux of the film.
Wake up Sid follows those two very basic journeys of our youth. One of finishing graduation without any vision for the future like Sid and growing up to be a responsible person with the help of someone like Aisha. The second – like Aisha having a goal and realising that the journey of reaching there doesn’t have to be all work and can be mixed with a bit of fun thanks to Sid.
What works for the film are the brilliantly etched characters and the perfect cast. The simple story line and the way it is narrated connects with the audience immediately and for that Ayaan Mukherjee deserves all the credit. The first hour, right till the intermission, sweeps you off your feet. You get drawn into Sid's world instantaneously; you react to everything he does. But the post-interval portions slacken, courtesy the writing. Also Rahul Khanna in a special appearance seems wasted. However, towards the finale the film suddenly perks up.

Ayaan Mukherjee packs in a solid punch with the emotional scenes leaving you moist-eyed especially gets you all moist-eyed and the humorous ones leaving you with a smile. The music (Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy) is melodious and the songs don’t hamper the flow of the film. The cinematography is top notch and the camera work is clean.
Coming to the performances Ranbir Kapoor definitely stands out. He has played Sid so effortlessly proving that he is a truly gifted actor. While Konkona Sen Sharma is a natural and as usual gives a power packed performance. Not to forget the chemistry the two share is mind blowing. Anupam Kher and Supriya Pathak are a delight to watch.

On the whole, Wake Up Sid is a well-made metro-centric film that should strike a chord with the youth mainly.