Wake Up Sid was released on 2 October 2009, and proved to be a commercial success at the box office. It received widespread critical acclaim upon release, with critical acclaim for its novel concept, themes, direction, story, screenplay, soundtrack, and cast performances.
Siddharth Mehra (Ranbir Kapoor), also known as Sid, is a gifted, talented, super-qualified brainiac, yet extremely lazy and uninterested in his studies despite the fact that he is in his final year of college. His father, Ram Mehra (Anupam Kher), is a wealthy businessman in Mumbai who wants his son to excel, while his mother, Sarita Mehra (Supriya Pathak), is a housewife often frustrated by Sid's incompetence yet puts up with behaviour, ending up pampering him. Depicted as a spoiled, lazy slacker, Sid shows little concern for his plans after graduating, just barely studying on the night before his final exams and having no interest in working. While writing his final exam in the exam hall, Sid struggles throughout the entire duration of the exam, nervously unsure of each question and certain that he would fail his exams this semester and have to repeat the course the following year, whereas all of his classmates (including his 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 exam. Right after the exams are over, Sid and his friends go to a fancy restaurant to eat together and then go shopping at a mall to purchase very expensive, branded goods. Sid spends money on the credit card that his father gave him to cover his expenses and bills.
Soon, Sid's father offers to purchase him his favourite Porsche car if he agrees to work in his company for three months, which Sid accepts after his father reduces the offer to one month of work. Later that night, Sid attends his college's farewell party hosted by one of his college friends, Debbie, where he happens to meet Aisha Banerjee (Konkona Sen Sharma), who is Debbie's friend and has recently relocated from Kolkata to work as a writer for Mumbai Beat, a well-known magazine company in Mumbai. Sid is taken aback because the magazine for which Aisha is applying is his subscription magazine, and he is intrigued by the magazine's various interesting photographs after all. Sid takes Aisha to a beach to enjoy the city view and asks her whether she is afraid of living alone in a large city like Mumbai. Aisha answers that although she is terrified, becoming a writer for the world's largest media company had been her dream since she was a child, and she wished to pursue that dream. The next day, Sid visits his father's company and is assigned by his father to work like the other employees on the first day and carefully study hundreds of company files. He decides to dress casually for the meeting because he feels that formal attire is inappropriate for him. However, because Sid is uninterested in his father's business from the start, he eventually quits his job and gives up his desire for a luxury car because he can no longer handle the office workload.
Meanwhile, Aisha informs Sid that she is planning to relocate because the hostel where she currently resides has too many mice. Sid assists Aisha by providing contacts for renters in Mumbai at reasonable prices. That day, Sid accompanies Aisha to an in-house owned by a flirtatious woman named Sonia (Kashmira Shah). Sid is disappointed after seeing the room that Sonia had rented out because it was filthy and neglected for a long time. However, Aisha feels at ease with the rental house and decides to rent it because she plans to clean and redecorate the room and is very interested in the city view from the top floor. Sid then assists Aisha in purchasing the necessary equipments and enlists his friends' help to repaint the house. Later, Aisha has a final job interview with Kabir Chaudhary (Rahul Khanna), the CEO of Mumbai Beat, and is finally accepted to officially work at the company. When the final exam results come out a week later, much to his misery, Sid learns that he failed while the rest of his classmates (including his friends) aced the exams with great-to-decent grades, this delaying his graduation for at least another year. An irritated and depressed Sid's father forces him to apologise to his mother after learning that Sid has hurt her feelings, but Sid has a heated argument with his father until he hastily decides to pack his bags and leave the house after an extremely upset, livid blowout.
Sid, who has no money, then arrives at Aisha's house and asks for permission to stay for a few days. Aisha, who feels indebted for everything he has done for her, decides to assist him and let him stay for a while. The next day, Aisha wakes up early because it is her first day of work, while Sid (who has no money and no job) wakes up during the day and begins searching the refrigerator for food but is unable to find instant food as there are only raw vegetables, despite the fact that he has no idea how to cook. After work, Aisha returns home and is surprised. Upon learning that Sid does not have enough money to purchase food, Aisha cooks dinner for him. The next day, Sid resumes his hobby of photographing various events, activities, and scenery around the house with his old camera. He even requests Sonia to teach him how to fry eggs so that he can serve them to Aisha when she returns home from work. However, because of the stress she feels at work, a disgusted Aisha shouts at Sid for his inability to keep her house organized and storms out in anger, leaving Sid alone in the house. Sid tries to contact Aisha several times to apologise but in vain. The next day, when Aisha returns home from Sonia's house, she is surprised to find her house reorganized by Sid. She then advises Sid to return home and work for his father's company, but Sid declines for wanting to work in a field that he is interested in and passionate about.
Aisha introduces Sid to Amit, a photographer director at Mumbai Beat, who is impressed by Sid's talent after seeing his photographs and decides to hire him as an intern in his division. While Sid is away for his first day of work, his mother comes to Aisha's house to give her some money, but Aisha politely declines the money because she considers Sid to be a good friend. Hearing this, Sid's mother gives the two some of Sid's favourite mangoes while asking Aisha not to inform Sid about her arrival. After living with Aisha, Sid is motivated to change into a hardworking, responsible, and productive person, and he always tries to assist her with household chores. He is becoming more active in his work because he has discovered his passion. Soon, Sid receives an offer to photograph a boy and his mother living next to Aisha's house, which reminds Sid of his childhood memories of spending time with his mother, and he goes to briefly meet his mother and apologise for previously hurting her heart. The next day, Sid requests Amit for permission to photograph for the next issue of Mumbai Beat in order to demonstrate that his work is worthy of inclusion. On the other hand, Aisha's article is finally approved by Kabir to be included in the magazine because it is very meaningful and touching.
After a few days, Sid appears ecstatic after receiving a promotion letter to become an assistant photographer and his first paycheck at Mumbai Beat. For the first time in months, Sid immediately visits his father's office to apologise for leaving the house and rejecting the job offer. He claims that now he has a job that he enjoys and that he has received his first salary, causing his father to beam with pride and embrace his son. However, Aisha is heartbroken and furious to learn that Sid is leaving, but a confused and hurt Sid returns home nevertheless. Back home, Sid discovers that he has accidentally brought Aisha's shirt along with his belongings, while Aisha appears lonely after Sid's departure. The next morning, Sid receives the latest issue of Mumbai Beat, wherein he comes across an article written by Aisha and quickly realises that the article is about Aisha's life experience in Mumbai and her meeting for him. Aisha reveals at the end of the article that she has fallen in love with Sid, which makes him realise that Aisha's attitude has been her sincerity and affection for him. Sid hurriedly drives to the beach from his car in the rainy weather because he is certain that Aisha is there, as it was after all their favourite spot. The film concludes with Sid approaching Aisha and declaring his love for her before they finally embrace each other, signalling the start of their love affair.
Wake Up Sid opened well in India and overseas markets. Its opening weekend gross was ₹215 million (US$2.6million) of which the domestic gross was ₹170 million (US$2.0million). 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 received widespread critical acclaim upon release, with high praise for its novel concept, themes, direction, story, screenplay, soundtrack and performances of the cast.
Subhash K. Jha from Bollywood Hungama gave Wake Up Sid a rave review stating that it is, "a triumph on many levels [...] Ayan Mukerji takes the age-old dramatic conflicts of our commercial cinema into understated corridors.[5] Similarly, Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama gave the film 4 out of 5 stars as well as a "thumbs up" stating that it is "strongly recommended."[6]Rajeev Masand of CNN-IBN gave the film 3.5 out of 5 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."[7]
Mayank Shekhar of Hindustan Times gave it 3.5 out of 4 stars and states, "Wake Up Sid belongs to a sweet genre that, without doubt, flows on from Farhan Akhtar's Dil Chahta Hai (2001): part-Hollywood; part-Bollywood; mostly coming-of-age; subtly romantic; largely original; authentic in feel; light in weight; English in expression; Hindi in language."[8] Avijit Ghosh of The Times of India gave it 3.5 out of 4 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."[9] Noyon Jyoti Parasara of AOL India gave it 3.5 out of 5 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."[10]
Joginder Tuteja of the Indo-Asian News Service (IANS) calls the film "flawless" and gave it 3.5 stars out of 5. He states: "There are 5 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."[11] Rachel Saltz of The New York Times argues that: "With no big production numbers (songs play over montage sequences), 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. Mukerji is a director to watch."[12]
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."[13]Variety's Joe Leydon found the film "instantly forgettable", but praised the performances of Sharma and Kapoor, as well noting how "effortlessly appealing" the film is, stating: "...this atypically low-key Bollywood romantic comedy somehow manages to remain pleasantly diverting throughout its 138-minute running time."[14]
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 film.[15]
The music was composed by Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy with lyrics by Javed Akhtar. The soundtrack was released on 21 August 2009 to positive reviews.[24][25]Amit Trivedi, who provided the film's background score, guest-composed the song "Iktara", its reprise and extended version, all of which were written by his frequent collaborator Amitabh Bhattacharya. Song "Boondon Ke Moti", an extension to Iktara, sung by Salim Merchant remains unreleased till date.
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