Oct 24, 2009 01:21 PM
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Now more than ever before, the difference between men and women seems more pronounced. I think this is because earlier it was just the men who went out and earned the daily bread while women stayed at home. So the men were stupendously efficient and matured at work but did not know how to fetch themselves even a glass of water at home! In this aspect, the wives took over where the mother’s left.
Today times have changed. Women work and expect the men to share their burdens at home. Some men have adapted. But most don’t seem to be able to do so. I think the next generation of men will be very different. They have grown up seeing their mothers work and hopefully their mothers have trained them to be sensitive in all aspects. So I do see light at the end of at the tunnel…
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not blaming men here. It’s just their social conditioning.
Today so many men are still childlike in so many aspects. There are certain sensibilities that don’t seem to develop in them. There is a childlike vulnerability in them that is at times endearing and terribly annoying at other times. Wake up Sid captures this so beautifully.
You cannot blame the lead character - Siddharth nay Sid - played so seemingly effortlessly by Ranbir Kapoor. He is a spoilt brat who is completely insensitive to everything and everyone around him. He’s unaware of his messy room. He can’t see the yearning in his mothers’ eye. He can’t see the hope in his father’s eye. He does not appreciate things that have come easily to him or the fat credit card bills that get paid. He just is. And is happy to be the way he is. Into his life arrives Aisha (Konkona Sen Sharma) – a girl who aspires to be a successful writer. A girl who has left her home in Kolkatta and come to Mumbai to ‘become’ something. Feelings that Sid simply cannot relate to. However the two go on to become great friends – and he even helps her find a home and settle into it.
Meanwhile Sid lasts less than a week at his father’s successful office. He also flunks his exams. Things lead up to a clash with his parents and he walks out of home in a huff – only to knock at Aisha’s door.
Aisha lands a job at a leading magazine and while she is off at work, Sid is lost. He cannot even prepare breakfast for himself. He leaves the house in a mess – and does not even notice it. One fine day Aisha tires of playing his mother and maid, yells at home and walks out in a mess. Sid finally ‘notices’ his mistakes.
And this becomes a turning point in his life. He starts ‘growing up’. He starts helping out at home. Cooking, cleaning, washing… But he still remains childlike in other aspects. He fails to notice emotions that are staring at his face. He fails to catch finer nuances of emotional moments. He cannot understand Aisha’s outbursts. But he still manages to win her heart with his zest for life and his childlike vulnerability.
This then is a story that many of us can relate too. I can easily forgive Sid because the director Ayan Mukerji cleverly establishes his ‘spoilt’ upbringing. His parents have sheltered him from any physical or emotional discomforts. Ah how many parents in India do this to their sons? It leaves their sons unprepared to handle the troughs that life throws at them. It leaves them with a lack of emotional depth. It makes them blind to others’ emotions.
While at a certain level one can laugh at Sid and his childishness, one also hopes that zillions of parents watching this movie understand that they need to prepare their sons better for this journey called life – because they may not always be there to shield their son from the many storms he may encounter during this journey.
The movie has a fresh premise. The narration is fluid and performed so brilliantly that you forget they are all actors. They seem so real!
The casting is perfect. Ranbir Kapoor plays Sid so effortlessly. Konkona has a complex role to play and handles it as adeptly as we’ve come to expect of her. The support cast Anupan Kher (Sid’s father) Supriya Pathak (his mother), Rahul Khanna (Aisha’s boss), his friends Rishi (Namit Das) and Laxmi (Shikha Talsania) – all of them are brilliant!
Music is endearing and blends in so well with the narration. Javed Akhtar has excelled yet again with his pertinent https://lyrics.
A beautifully packaged movie with several enjoyable layers. Do go watch it – if you still haven’t.
