India Masala

Wake Up Sid: A whole new formula film

Bollywood has always survived on the formula — the elusive secret to making a successful film that combines elaborate sets, melodrama and of course, dancing around trees. Then multiplexes arrived and we were told it was the era of niche films, ones that didn’t go by the formula.

Films like “Wake Up Sid” are well on their way to becoming a meeting point between the old and the new, and becoming a whole different genre of films — the formula multiplex film.

Now that the multiplex audience in India is such an important part of the movie going public, there are a lot of films being made with them in mind and most are now beginning to stick to a formula.

Have an urban hero (preferably young) confused about life, throw in some college scenes, smart dialogues and a disco scene or two.

Make the aesthetics such that they appeal to the yuppie audience and there you have it — the formula to make a multiplex film.

Let me also add a disclaimer here. I don’t think it’s a bad thing to make a formula film. After all, many of Bollywood’s biggest hits have followed the formula but they have also had that something extra. “Wake Up Sid”, starring Ranbir Kapoor and Konkona Sen Sharma doesn’t always pass that test.

Kapoor plays Siddharth Mehra, a spoilt rich brat who has no aim in life except — do nothing. He meets Aisha (Konkona Sen Sharma), elder to him and in search of “independence” in Mumbai. The two soon strike up a friendship. When Sid fails in his exams and his father decides to crack the whip, our protagonist decides he is better off living on his own. He lands up at Aisha’s house, hoping to make it in the real world, but soon realizes he isn’t equipped for it at all.

Chandni Chowk to China: Sticking to the formula

If you are looking for intellectual stimulation at the movies, watch Clint Eastwood’s “Changeling” or wait for “Slumdog Millionaire” — “Chandni Chowk to China” is definitely not what you are looking for.

It’s the first big release of the year, is produced by a big Hollywood studio looking to enter the Indian market and has one of India’s most bankable stars. But it also has a lot of Bollywood “formula”.

Now whether you like this film or not depends on whether you like the “formula”. Do you like the twins separating-at-birth-and-meeting-20-years-later formula? Or perhaps the I-will-avenge-my-father’s-death formula? Take your pick because “Chandni Chowk to China” has taken each and every cliché from Hindi cinema of the 70s and 80s and repackaged it.

Akshay Kumar plays Sidhu, a simpleton cook in Delhi’s famed Chandni Chowk, who fumbles his way through life and is waiting for the stroke of luck that will change his life. Through a chance encounter possible only in Hindi cinema, he meets two natives of China. They are convinced Sidhu is the reincarnation of the ancient warrior Liu Sheng, who will rescue them from the clutches of evil villain Hojo.

Somewhere along the way we also learn of Inspector Chang, whose family was separated because of Hojo. Chang’s twin daughters, Sakhi and Suzie (played by Deepika Padukone) are separated while he loses his memory.

To attempt to explain the story beyond this point is difficult, because the plot gets too convoluted and loses itself at many places. Except for the 20 minutes in the second half, where Chang is training Akshay in the art of kung fu, the rest of the movie is one chaotic scene.