Wake Up Sid

"''But... I made you an egg!""

- Sid Mehra



Wake Up Sid is a 2009 Bollywood movie directed by newcomer Ayan Mukherji, produced by Karan Johar, and starring Ranbir Kapoor and Konkona Sen Sharma.

The low-key plot follows spoiled rich kid Sid Mehra's attempts to mature and make his way in the world after his parents cut him off from the family wealth. During this time he befriends and becomes the roommate of Aisha, a determined young woman, who is similarly trying to find a career in Mumbai. Together they deal with the issues that arise from living together, find jobs they are content with and come to terms with their growing romantic attraction to one another.

A successful movie in India, it is a good showcase for the acting skills of both leads as well as some new trends in Bollywood in general.


 * Age-Appropriate Angst: Sid starts out pretty annoying, but many of his character failings are likely due to age. It's unlikely the audience would be as sympathetic if he were older and still such a slacker.
 * All Take and No Give: Sid and Aisha's roommate relationship for a while, until Aisha tells him that making lunch for her one time doesn't negate him contributing nothing to the rent and being a total slob.
 * Brilliant but Lazy: Sid is quite smart, but never motivated to do something he is disinterested in.
 * Career Versus Man: Subverted.
 * Caught in the Rain:
 * Coming of Age Story
 * Dynamic Character: The whole point of this movie, especially in Sid's case.
 * Ear Worm: "Goonja sa hai koi ektara iktara/Goonja sa hai koi ektara." Seriously, Amit Trivedi rules.
 * Funny Character, Boring Actor: Ranbir Kapoor claims to be completely different from Sid.
 * He Is Not My Boyfriend: Aisha explaining her relationship with Sid to Sid's mother.
 * Hollywood Homely: When this movie was first announced in 2008, there were many reports that the plot would be about a hot guy falling in love with an ugly woman. This hypohetical plot appears to have been entirely made up due to the appearances of the actor and actress in question. Never mind that Konkona Sen Sharma is pretty much smokin'.
 * Thankfully, the director quickly came to the defense of Konkona Sen Sharma, and there is no attempt to depict Aisha as ugly in the movie itself. Therefore, this qualifies for a trope aversion.
 * "I Am" Song: The Title track, in fact.
 * Inadequate Inheritor: Sid's father wants his to work for his company. Sid isn't so crazy about the idea, but too passive-aggressive to discuss this with his father or look for an alternate job.
 * The film avoids treating Sid's father as a villain because the guy is proud and happy once Sid finds a true career path as a photographer.
 * Innocent Cohabitation:
 * Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Sid fails all of his classes, doesn't appreciate his family, and is a horrible roommate at first. It's a good thing he's genuinely kind and eventually learns from his mistakes when called out.
 * Just Friends: Sid and Aisha are both insistent on this while living together.
 * Love Epiphany: Sid finally realizes he loves Aisha and that she loves him back after reading her debut column.
 * Man Child: Sid's biggest flaw. While the film is sympathetic to the circumstances that have led to Sid acting this way, the movie also focuses on his gradual journey away from this stage in his life.
 * Mean Character, Nice Actor: Kabir, Aisha's boss, is pretty much a pretentious douche. His actor, Rahul Khanna, (if his twitter is anything to go by) is quite witty and charming.
 * Minor Flaw, Major Breakup: Aisha briefly wants to date Kabir... until it turns out that they have different tastes in music.
 * One Head Taller: Koknona Sen Sharma is much shorter than Ranbir Kapoor.
 * Plucky Girl: Aisha needed to be pretty damn optimistic and determined to head to Mumbai with no assurances that she'd actually find a job while there.
 * Sleep Cute
 * Starving Artist/Friends Rent Control: Sort of averted in both accounts. Aisha and Sid have a very nice apartment for having so little money, but the apartment is relatively small and it's established that the place isn't in a very good zone (meaning that the apartment itself is nice but the building is not).
 * True Companions: Sid has these
 * Typecasting: Ranbir Kapoor and Konkona Sen Sharma as a spazzy manchild and a responsible career woman, respectively. (Thankfully, the script negates some of the predictability.)