Movie Review: 'Cocktail'

Cast : Saif Ali Khan, Deepika Padukone, Daina Penty, Dimple Kapadia, Boman Irani, Randeep Hooda

Directer : Homi Adajania

Rating : ***


Romance comes easy to Saif Ali Khan. He slips into the romantic characters, playing the uber-cool, trendy, suave, metrosexual guy with elegance. Films such as DIL CHAHTA HAI, KAL HO NAA HO, HUM TUM, SALAAM NAMASTE and LOVE AAJ KAL only consolidated and cemented his status in this genre. That’s one of the prime reasons why COCKTAIL generates curiosity. But this one’s about love and friendship. A tug-of-war of sorts.

Those who love judging a film by its trailer will be quick to assume that this is another version of ‘Love Aaj Kal’. Those who watch American reality shows would spot similarities with ‘Keeping Up With The Kardashians’- as Saif looks old enough to father the two leading ladies in this film. But those who actually watch this film will know that it’s neither. It’s a hollow approach to relationships that leaves you with an empty feeling of nothingness. Here’s a cocktail mixed with laughs, dances, songs, tears, stunning beaches but the cumulative effect of this mix: permanent sobriety.

Homi Adajania’s brightly glossy Cocktail seems unburdened by any grandiose cinematic ambition beyond looking very good — an aim it meets with highly attractive leads and rather excellent art direction — and that’s cool. If this were an American film, it’d star Katherine Heigl or Jennifer Aniston, perhaps both. It’s Love Triangle 101, and, if done well, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. It’s all about knowing where you want to head.

Adajania starts off breezily enough, all effortless-flirting and shotglasses and dramatically teary mascara, but the threadbare and increasingly inane plot unspools halfway through, leaving us with a shoddy, frustratingly random sequence of events. The last one-third of the film features the kind of emotional melee that can only be rightfully resolved by handing one of the girls a samurai sword. Alas, no such bloody respite is offered.

Armed with mangoes and a marriage certificate, angelic orphan Meera (Diana Penty) comes to big bad London and finds herself stranded, a (possibly nearsighted) man shooing her away. Instead of taking the first return flight, she decides to hang back and live with Veronica (Deepika Padukone), a frequently drunk party girl she meets in a restroom. They have a blast playing dress-up till one of them lands a hound dog from Delhi called Gautam (Saif Ali Khan, who eventually assumes the position of a persnickety but fortunate Twitter user: you know, picking between two fine DPs.

Diana, who makes her acting debut, gets to portray a rather difficult character for her debut film. There’s a very disarming kind of innocence that she brings to the role and she impresses a great deal. Dimple Kapadia is in terrific form, portraying the atypical North Indian lady with gusto. Boman Irani is first-rate, especially in sequences with Dimple. Randeep Hooda‘s character is under-nourished.

On the whole, COCKTAIL has a fascinating first half, charismatic performances, harmonious music and the trendy look and styling as its aces, but the second half is not as tempting or intoxicating as the first hour. It pales when compared to the attention-grabbing first hour. Yet, all said and done, this one’s primarily targeted at the Gen Next, especially those in metros, who might identify with the on-screen characters

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