The film opens with
Gautam Kapoor (Saif Ali Khan)
flirting with a flight attendant on the
way to London, something he repeats with many girls in the film. On another
flight is a newly wedded conservative girl Meera
Gupta (Diana Penty) on her way to meet her husband of a sham wedding. And
then there is the carefree Veronica
D'Costa (Deepika Padukone) for whom partying
is a way of life.
Circumstances lead
to a helpless Meera finding shelter
in Veronica's home. The two soon become close
buddies. Gautam who is in a casual
relationship with Veronica moves in
with them. Later, after a run in
with his mom and uncle who may not be approving of Veronica, he pretends that Meera is his girl. The
two don't like each other much, but as the movie progresses, sparks fly between them.
While we are
accustomed to seeing Saif in yippie
playboy roles in 'Hum Tum', he must realize that many years have now passed since he did them. And his age now shows. Although his mom in
the film Dimple Kapadia says he is 32, he surely looks a decade older, closer
to his actual age, 42. Despite this glaring
drawback, some of his Casanova antics
are funny although some others are way
overboard.
There was a quite a
bit of noise about Diana Penty's debut
but there is nothing remarkable
about her. She is overshadowed by
Deepika, both in the looks department and acting. In fact, Diana Penty was
the first choice to play Ranbir's love
interest in 'Rockstar' which eventually went to Nargis Fakhri. After
watching cocktail, it was evident that if Penty was cast in Rockstar, the film wouldn't have had as much impact.
Deepika Padukone, for one, has actually learnt some acting skills. Compared to what she was in 'Om
Shanti Om', she has come a long way.
Also, she carries off her designer wear with aplomb. Amidst all the gloom, her acting is an asset to the film.
Where the film
fails are with its poor writing and shallow characters who are seen
partying around most of time as if they are on an unending holiday. None of them have must depth to their
personality. Boman Irani & Dimple Kapadia contribute to some funny moments, but isn't enough to keep it
going.
The worst thing
about cocktail is that it aligns with the hypocritical
Indian moral view where Veronica, the promiscuous
party-girl is a bad girl while a god-fearing and docile type casted Meera is supposedly virtuous and gets the guy in
the end. All this when our hero manages to 'patao'
every other girl around except Meera. Maybe it's only the hunt that gets him interested in her rather than anything else.
Songs like 'Tumhi Ho Bandhu', 'Daaru Desi' are already runaway hits. But with Pritam being the Music Director, we would never know the source till one looks up YouTube with the search
string 'pritam songs + copy' . As far as the Punjabi folk song 'Jugni' is concerned, the movie makers have purchased rights for its use.
'Cocktail' comes
across as a confused film. Did they
want to show a purely romantic flick like 'Love Aaj Kal' exploring urban relationships? Or did they want to play safe with
some 'homely girl vs. party girl:
who gets the boy' theme? Or was this meant to be a comedy? In fact, it is a cocktail of these three, with the recipe gone awry.
Now for the
verdict: Don't be fooled by its name coz this cocktail isn't going to get you intoxicated. Probably, one can call it a mock-tail instead. Don't even
watch it on TV.
Rating 4/10: Average fare romance flick with
shallow characters
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