Director: Homi Adajania
Cast: Deepika Padukone, Diana Penty, Saif Ali Khan, Boman Irani, Dimple Kapadia
Interesting fact: Diana Chaddha changed her surname to Penty because she felt her original surname was too masculine!
One Sentence Review: Cocktail can make for a decent time-pass watch if you have the capacity to digest the cliched melodrama.
From a stark psycho thriller Being Cyrus almost six years ago, filmmaker Homi Adjania is back after a long hiatus with a heady frothy concoction Cocktail. The film is set in London, and we do get the stereotypical wide shots of the city that help us to know, nothing.
The Plot: Meera (Diana Penty) is our grief-struck damsel stuck in a foreign land with nowhere to go. Veronica (Deepika Padukone) lives alone in an expensive row house with endless nights of partying and more partying. She’s a photographer by profession, but all her demands are met by her invisible parents. Gautam (Saif Ali Khan) is approaching his thirties with no stable relationship around him. He likes to get laid. Meera and Veronica are poles apart, in every parameter that counts. The three together make for a breezy friendship, sing multiple songs like Daaru Desi, Tumhi Ho Bandhu so on and so forth. However, it all gets messed up with cupid strikes and Gautam falls for Meera while Veronica falls for Gautam. What happens to this cocktail of love and friendship follows through the rest of the plot
The same old love triangle melodrama strikes back with lovelorn hero, jilted lover, betrayed friend, sad songs, glum situation etc. However, even at that, Homi Adjania‘s new approach to handling emotional sequences comes out in spurts where certain scenes are very brilliantly handled; specially, the scene between the three when Gautam opens up about his feelings and the sticky situation.
As far as the acting goes, Saif and Deepika almost nail their parts perfectly. While Saif is perfect as a flirt, slightly over the top and reckless person while Deepika as a wasted, bold, bratty woman is just brilliant. Diana Penty however needs to work on her acting skills as blame it on her character or just her acting, she appears in just one pitiable expression in most of the scenes.
Things get completely sorted out over the course of two sad songs playing in the background. Disappointing. But the overall product doesn’t bear a stale stench, thus keeping it fresh and somewhat touching. When the climax finally arrived the entire hall erupted in loud groans and giggles. A man in my row had a crestfallen look, as though it was the worst day of his life!
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