Wake Up Sid

Bollywood comes of age with this ‘rites of passage’ story of rich spoiled boy Sidharth (Kapoor). After a row with his indulgent dad (Kher), Sid moves in with Aisha (Sharma), his older and wiser female friend. She wants ‘a man’; the boy just wants to have to have fun. Will Sid ever find his vocation in life? It’s pretty predictable stuff, but this is a relatively new subject for Hindi cinema. Debut director Mukerji clearly has his pulse on middle-class Indian youth angst and their often limited career choices. It’s ‘follow your heart’ message may be simplistic but strong lead performances, a realistic sympathetic narrative and the Mumbai locations sweep us in. The result is an accomplished, touching tale of the lives of contemporary urban Indians.