Waking Up from a 3-hour Sleep

IT SEEMED LIKE an eternity since I had entered the multiplex. Three hours into the film and my senses were almost numb. Suddenly a man snoozing beside me woke up. ‘The movie isn’t over yet? My God, I’ve been sleeping here for the past 3 hours and it’s still continuing! Aar para jachche na!’ said the man to his wife. The frustration in his voice touched my heart. After all, I too shared the same feeling! On my way back home I kept on thinking who my worst enemy is, so that I can avenge myself on him by sending him a free ticket for WHAT'S YOUR RAASHEE?

Surprised? Don’t be. I’m a big fan of Ashutosh Gowariker gharana of filmmaking. But unlike his previous ventures What’s Your Raashee? falls flat on its face. A new player in the genre, Gowariker tried to make a breezy rom-com, but the film turned out to be neither rom nor com.

Harman Baweja trying to find the ‘perfect bride’ from each of the 12 sun signs within 10 days made an interesting premise. Priyanka Chopra in 12 different avatars added to the interest. But Gowariker the writer fails miserably to captivate the viewers. The stories involving each of the girls get monotonous, tiresome and way too long. A majority of the 12 Priyanka Chopras turn out to be clichéd and sketchy. In giving too much importance to the initial girls, the latter ones are reduced to ‘blink-and-you-miss’ mannequins. There are too many loopholes in the screenplay to ignore. The climax is unconvincing and filmy. Even the funny one-liners look forced upon, and the romance is nowhere to be seen.

However, the villain of the piece emerges to be the editor — Ballu Saluja. I don’t have any problem with a 3.5 hour long film, provided the story is an absorbing one (sample: Jodhaa Akbar). But since that’s not the case with What’s Your Raashee?, the length of the film should have been trimmed down. Gowariker needs a new editor, immediately!

The saving grace in this bore-drama is Priyanka Chopra. The way she enacts the 12 girls is pure magic. I particularly liked the intense Cancerian, the downmarket and heavily Gujju-accented Aries, the bossy Libra, the Swades-hangover Virgo doctor and the innocent little Capricorn girl. Harman Baweja looks nice and acts well, but he couldn’t add any zing to Yogesh Patel. Unlike what many have said, I quite liked Sohail Sen’s music (of course, you can’t expect a Lagaan or Jodhaa Akbar from Sen). Jao na, Bikhri bikhri, Su chhe, Koi jaane na, Chehre jo dekhe hain — some of the songs stay with you even after you have left the theatre.

From a master storyteller like Gowariker I expected something more than this staid contemporary love story. Perhaps the man should better stick to his forte — Mughal family dramas. Experiments are not meant for everyone.

A few days after the What’s Your Raashee?-debacle, I went back to the same plex for yet another rom-com, Ayan Mukerji’s WAKE UP SID. Not another bore-flick, I prayed as I entered the theatre apprehensively. But boy, I got more than I asked for! No OTT Karan Johar melodrama (there were high chances of it since KJo is the producer of the film), no preachy messages — Wake Up Sid is a beautiful love story woven into refreshing coming-of-age tale.

The film is all about Sid, a lazy unmotivated slacker from Mumbai whose carefree world undergoes a series of changes after Aisha walks into his life. She acts as a catalyst in transforming Sid from an irresponsible boy to a responsible man. Coupled with this is a mint-fresh love story between two very different individuals which touches your heart deep within.

But then you might ask, what’s so new about it? Okay, I agree the story is predictable. Right from the beginning you know that Sid will, by the end, wake up to his responsibilities and he and Aisha will live happily ever after. But the difference lies in Ayan’s smart screenplay. The characters appear so realistic and endearing. Midway through the film my friend exclaimed, ‘Sid in the first half resembles me! It’s actually my life story dude!’ That’s exactly where the film succeeds. We can relate to it. There’s a Sid in all of us. We’ve all been in that phase where life is floating by and we are aimless. Kudos to Ayan for gifting us a slice of our own life.

The director once said that he’s a great fan of Farhan Akhtar. True, Wake Up Sid has moments that are inspired from Akhtar’s Dil Chahta Hain and Lakshya. But nevertheless, the film’s earthly flavour and its close-to-life essence make Wake Up Sid an engaging watch.

The lead players, Ranbir Kapoor and Konkona Sensharma, give stellar performances. Every time they come together they exude infectious warmth that gets on you, and you keep on longing for more of Sid and Aisha. It’s the duo’s chemistry that’s a high point of Wake Up Sid. I wonder, how Konkona manage to look so good with all her leading men (of all age groups), be it Rahul, Kunal, Irrfan or Ranbir! But there’s one thing that irked me. Aisha is born and brought up in Kolkata, why then she reads Tagore in English and talks to her mother in accented Bengali?

Shankar, Ehsaan and Loy try hard to give a lilting score and they manage to do it as well, but it’s Amit Trivedi’s soulful Iktara that steals the show all along. What the trio couldn’t achieve with almost half a dozen songs, Trivedi did just that with a single blow. Thanks to Javed Akhtar for penning such wonderful lyrics, although he sounded a bit Gulzar-ish in the song!

Even if Wake Up Sid was a crap film, I would have loved to watch it again and again. Not because of Ranbir-Koko, but because it uses something to unite the lovers that’s closest to my heart — monsoon.