'I am too old to be part of Wake Up Sid'

Image: Ranbir Kapoor, Konkona Sen Sharma
Photographs: Pradeep Bandekar Patcy N

The Wake Up Sid team -- producer Karan Johar, director Ayaan Mukherjee and cast Ranbir Kapoor and Konkona Sen Sharma -- came together to launch a video blog to promote their film, in collaboration with bollywoodhungama.com.

As the promos show, the film deals with the youth of today.

Konkona seems quite upbeat about her new film, as she claims she's quite similar to her onscreen character. "Like Ayesha in the film, I have also come from Kolkata and settled down in Mumbai. Ayaan was instrumental in me signing the film, as he has written it so well. As soon as he read out the script, I was on."

Konkona's character Ayesha comes to Mumbai to become a writer. She's an earnest, hardworking and the opposite of Sid.

'I am too old to be part of Wake Up Sid'

Image: Ranbir Kapoor

Ranbir, on the other hand, thought Ayaan was the most annoying kid when they first met.

"Karan asked me to come home one day. I met Ayaan there, an annoying kid, who was younger than me. But the next day when he read out the script to me, I was bowled over. I thought it was the best piece of writing I had ever read. It was because there is a Sid in each one of us. The film is about waking up to life, love and responsibilities," Ranbir told the media.

'I am too old to be part of Wake Up Sid'

Image: Konkona Sen Sharma

First-time director Ayaan Mukherjee happens to be a cousin of Kajol and Rani Mukerji.

"Ayaan has assisted me on Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna and Ashutosh Gowariker in Swades," said Karan Johar. "After we finished KANK, he wanted to write a script. So he took a break and wrote it. One day, he narrated the script to me. It did not fall into the quintessential Dharma Production space as a film and that was what made me choose it, as I wanted to break away from that perceived mould. Wake Up Sid has its heart and soul in place. It does not scream opulence and melodrama. It's a slice of life. This is a new beginning for us at Dharma Productions."

'I am too old to be part of Wake Up Sid'

Image: Ranbir Kapoor and Konkona Sen Sharma

So how did the story come to Ayaan? "It's hard to answer that. It came to me very instinctively," Ayaan replied. "I was very clear that I wanted to write a film about the things I knew and understood, about life around me. I wanted to write about a time in my life when we were younger and and lost, when we didn't know what we were doing with our lives. We didn't care at that time, we were having the time of our lives. If I could capture that feeling in the film, it would be a wonderful experience."

'I am too old to be part of Wake Up Sid'

Image: Hungama CEO Neeraj Roy, Ayaan Mukherjee, Konkona Sen Sharma, Karan Johar and Ranbir Kapoor

So how involved was Karan Johar in his new production? "Actually, I had no inputs in Wake Up Sid. It is completely Ayaan's vision. I decided very consciously that I need to step out. He is a decade younger than me. He is different from me, has a different energy and different sensibility. I have never worked with Ranbir and Konkona. I have always worked with people of a certain melodrama so I could not give any inputs. They were a different generation altogether. I am too old to be a part of Wake Up Sid."

More