Over the years, my expectation from Karan Johar movies have steadily declined to the point that despite the good music and good promos I didn’t have much expectations from Wake Up Sid. But cut to the end of the first half, and I thoroughly liked the movie.
Wake Up Sid is a simple story based on the coming of age genre and compared to other recent Bollywood films in this genre like Lakshya or DCH, the story line for Wake Up Sid is much simpler and the canvas smaller. Unlike the protagonist of Lakshya who redeems himself by battling against Pakistan in the Himalayas, here the protagonist merely manages to get a job as a photographer in a magazine. The redemption story is no more grandiose or dramatic. But there are a few reasons why with seemingly bland narrative and storyline the movie still works.
Why the movie works is because for the most part the movie stays believable, realistic and likable. The music of the film, though almost one dimensional expect for the Iktara track, actually serves as good situational music. The scene conceptions and dialogues are quite natural and realistic. Majorly though, it rides heavily on the performances of its lead actors. Konkona Sen Sharma pulls off another wonderful performance. Ever the earthy and realistic next door girl, unlike her most other roles where she ends up being the loser, not getting the guy, here for a change she doesn’t cry and instead has a bright road ahead. Ranbir Kapur for once and for all proves that he can really act. He carries off his role with absolute ease. Doesn’t overact, doesn’t suffer from mannerisms, just the right treatment meted out to Sid’s character. Actually the biggest reason why Wake Up Sid works is because of Ranbir Kapoor’s affable portrayal of the central character.
While the story and screen play of the film avoids all the melodramas and Bollywood cliches, it does appear to be undercooked a bit. The biggest grouse being it’s too flat and bland. It’s alright to not have all the rona dhona and stereotypes but the movie could have definitely done with a bit of humour. Jane Tu Ya Jane Na had a tremendous comedy element and that gave the movie a major lift. Here, the mood of the movie is thoroughly monotonous in the absence of a single comic scene. Also, while it has been shown how Konkona’s character loves Sid, the other way round hasn’t been explored. Sid’s journey from friendship to love has been covered in under two minutes. That aside, the music also could have done with a bit of depth. Here, barring the Iktara song and the song right in the end when it starts raining (which is not there in the album?) the music is again monotonous. Actually the music being so one dimensional made me think before I saw the movie that it’s going to be a rich kid’s cliched bollywood coming of age movie. I’m happy it didn’t turn out that way.
While I’d say that the film is terrific up to the interval, as the movie ends, I felt a little let down on account of absence of a little more depth or drama. When I look back and ponder over some movies which have really hit me, I realise there was this constant factor in them that the screen play altered its pace at places, hitting peaks and troughs and changing in intensity. Here, a lot like “Luck By Chance”, the film stays in the same intensity most of the time.
To sum up, while I enjoyed the movie, and it’s a fresh movie with great performances and without the usual melodrama and cliches, I do feel that it’s a tad undercooked and it could have done with some hilarity and fun. Add a little more fun and humour, it could have been a perfect movie.
0 comments:
Post a Comment