First, few confessions!
1. I dont discuss cinema with U-25! Because i believe you dont understand cinema well if you havent lived and experienced enough. Except few, not many of us make sense of our life and the world around us by 25. Forget cinema! BTW, by U-25 i mean Under 25!
2. After reading all the reviews of Wake Up Sid (WUS), I thought it must be of, for and byU-25! And coming from Karan Johar production, where the director’s access to producer had nepotism at the core, I was more reluctant!
3. With K Jo’s films, I had love-hate relationsip! I loved Kuch Kuch Hota Hai. Blame it on college days. I HATED Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham. I loved Kal Ho Na Ho. I hated Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna. Dostana – Had not much to react. And now its Wake Up Sid!
There are some million reviews already out. And I thought Baradwaj Rangan nailed it beautifully! Here is his full review if you havent read yet. But if this film is any indication of things to come from Karan Johar’s Dharma Productions, it seems K Jo is willing to wake up. Is it the koffee ? And so am willing to cheer and wait for him to wake up completely, get out of the bed and run like Lola one day!
Like YRF and their brand of cinema which still believes in doing Hadippa, K Jo also has his brand of cinema. The airbrushed designer cinema. But look at Wake Up Sid and what it offers!
SPOILER ALERT (minor)
– OMFG, the heroine and the hero sleeps on floor. And have one room kitchen to live.
– For the first time, the character actors look like characters. And they talk and behave like characters. Neither airbrushed nor designer! Is Lakshmi (Sid’s friend) Tiku Talsania’s daughter ? What a natural performance!
– There is no artificial rain. It rains because the season changes according to the flow of the story or the hero pours a bottle of water on heroine’s face!
– There is no melodrama. Its all subtle. Amit Trivedi’s background music and iktara track fills the gap beautifully! No heavily loaded music like the one which still plays when the Dharma Productions logo come on screen.
– In the club scene, is that Agnee’s shaam tanha ? Yeah yeah, one of the best bands in recent times that I have heard!
– The hero doesnt sing a song. The heroine also doesnt sing a sog! They dont even have a dream sequence in song! Its all in montages.
– And finally we have the hindi film hero not only falling for an older woman and that too, not so good looking one! And its Karan Johar production! Wooohoo!
There is more. Felt that its a beautiful postcard for the Mumbai Bombay city too. It starts with the city and ends with it. And so, there is Mumbai Beat magazine! And am I the only one who felt this is more of Alish’s (Konkona Sen) story. Sid’s (Ranbir Kapoor) slate was clean, its easy to scribble there. But Konkona’s slate had lot of stuff, it goes through change, she learns, she re-writes, she gets confused and finally she is the one who wraps it up.
Also, Alisha was much more difficult character to potray. Think of the situations she faces, like that scene when she comes back home after the not-so-good jazz experience and she finds the house all clean! And there are so many scenes like that. Its a predictable story and has a simplistic view of the world. But the director Ayaan Mukherjee knows his world really well! Damn confident debut!
After WUS, I hope K Jo doesnt go back to good ol’ naach gaana like his good friend Aditya Chopra. He is willing to wake up. And am willing to cheer for him. And I know, I am not the only one!
Finally have just one question for K Jo – Will he now join Hansal Mehta on his Gandhigiri protest against Raj Thackeray ?
F.i.g.h.t C.l.u.b 
the first point itself has waaaaay too much acid for me to digest!!!!
i bet you read peter pan every day before going to sleep!!!!
Stopped reading after 3 lines…Such condescending attitude is never good. Neither in cinema, nor in life!
@RR – ehehehehehe. I still wont discuss cinema or my sleeping pattern with U-25!
And you say LAK was like a maths theorem? Maths theorem is this stupid logic of yours. Why 25? Why not 26? or 25.465 years? or, even 26.986 years?
dude its Aishaaaaaa not Alisha :p please get that straight. I love the film straight up.. was waiting for some flaws too but pleasantly found none. Everyone was perfect for the role, but I think RK got way more praise. I mean yes he was great but nth compared to Koko. Omg Koko koko such a dream and beauty. Instant love. And ok since I am 25 yr and some months.. no offence taken he he even tho its lameeeeee :p
@Tanul – not condescending. its what i hav learnt from my experince and ppl i hav met. N m atleast honest! will b happy to be proved wrong. But OMG will the U-25 club unite and attack! lets discuss it few years later!
Only cz 25 sounds so cool to me and U-25 sounds cooler ;-))
And talking of LAK, am still waiting…if anyone can explain me the point of Rishi Kapoor’s story in Saif Ali-Deepika story! U can cut out the whole story out and it will remian the same.
Yep, that was Tiku Talsania’s daughter. She’s inherited her father’s acting DNA, all right. And yeah, the song was Agnee’s Shaam Tanha.
The hero and heroine don’t sing – I loved that. There were so many things to like that I missed out on some in my review, like sleeping on the floor and the hero falling for an older woman
@Kenny – and compare it to Dil Chahta Hai which is ofcourse much better film but Farhan did kill Dimple and got that Sid a new girl just before the credit roll!