Movie Review : Cocktail

Rating : 3.5/5
Genre : Romantic Drama
Year : 2012
Running time : 2 hours 26 minutes
Director : Homi Adajania
Cast : Deepika Padukone, Saif Ali Khan, Diana Penty, Boman Irani, Randeep Hooda, Dimple Kapadia
Kid rating : PG-13

Bollywood prefers straightforward love stories – the “I love you, you love me” kind. Cocktail then is an unusual film by Bollywoodian standards because it a threesome (hence the subtle Cocktail :-)) and it is of the messy “I love you, you love her” kinds. Harder to make and gain acclaim for than the standard stuff, because this splits the audience into 2 camps : He-She1, and He-She2. Yes, harder to make and braver.

Cocktail reminded me of the Julia Roberts, Jude Law starrer Closer which was way messier because it was a foursome, who had their love lives tangled. Here good little Punjabi girl Meera (Diana) lands up in London bearing mangoes for her one true love, her husband Kunal (Randeep). Kunal, an A-grade opportunist cad dismisses her wifely claims and leaves her stranded in London, where she happens to meet sophisticated, hard-partying photographer Veronica D’Costa (Deepika). Veronica, seeing her plight takes her in, and helps her find her footing in London. They meet modern-day Casanova Gautam Kapoor (Saif) and Gautam shacks up with Veronica. Things start to get complicated when Gautam, in a no-commitment relationship with Veronica, begins to see Meera’s charms . . .

The first half of the film is breezy and filled with organic, irreverent humor, the kinds that is so common between good friends and that I only see in Farhan Akhtar films. Padukone and Penty are long, lean and beautiful and manage to light up each frame they’re in. Saif is suave enough to fit in. The characters are fleshed out just right and they behave consistently. Deepika steals the show as an outwardly confident, but inwardly insecure young woman who yearns to be accepted and loved. Saif is cast in a role which suits his personality, and appears charming enough although I couldn’t quite see him as the man Veronica describes him to be “I have never met anyone like him, and believe me I have met many men”.

Debutante Meera Penty appears unsure of herself (first film jitters ?). Her role requires her to be a god-fearing, mousy, religious sort, but she projects the same expression for every emotion, whether she is sad, regretful or anxious. Dimple Kapadia is miscast as the motherly Mrs. Kapoor – she appears neither Punjabi (bad accent) nor the typical orthodox mummy. I quite liked the easy affectionate mama-bhatija relationship between Gautam and his uncle (Boman Irani).

The film portrays society’s harsh reality for women quite well – you might be a tough, independent, alcohol-guzzling young woman, but when it comes to marriage and settling down, you must fill the mold of the good Indian girl, the one a guy can take home to mummy, the one as Veronica puts it “cooks biryani for her man with that yoghurt thing (raita)”. Gautam seems to echo that refrain when he admits that “mummy” knows best, so much so that she could see who would be right for him, when he couldn’t discern it himself. Deepika is quite fantastic as Veronica, lively and beautiful as the unafraid, modern, young woman, but needy and desperate in love, willing to change herself completely to keep hold of a man. One of the most effective shots in the film show a sad Veronica clad in a glittery, short dress, dancing amid a throng of people in a noisy, packed dance-club, but appearing quite lonely – it is as if she is the only one in an empty room. Out of the three main characters I felt the most for her – she moved me to tears, her best performance to date for sure.

Now this is romance, so we’d like to see some romantic sparks fly. And here is where I’m a little disappointed. Gautam and Veronica aren’t together because of an earth-shattering love, so fine – but apparently Gautam and Meera do feel for each other, yeah? So whither the love or the chemistry ? Unfortunately there is none, or none that I could see. Diana looks kind of plaintive in love, like she has a tooth ache, and I’m unimpressed by Saif’s voluble remonstrations of how hard love is. What is that he sees in her, or she him ? Why root for them ? How am I supposed to respond to the in-love pair when they don’t appear to be that much in love? Yeah, they say they are , but so what ? Unanswered questions all, and essentially what stops the film from getting a rating higher than 3.5 ; it fails to give us a reason to believe in – yes, it sounds corny – love!

The second half of the film turns serious, but does keep you interested. There is anger and betrayal, self-pity and desperation ; quite a difference from the fun-loving first half. Cocktail has some great dialogues, natural-sounding and realistic, and Deepika has some of the best lines, dripping anger and sarcasm and hurt all at once. The film boasts an impressive soundtrack; I quite liked “Tum hi ho bandhu”, “Daaru Desi”, “Jugni” and “Yaariyan”.

Even with it’s flaws, this is a well-made film. I’d expected better from writer Imtiaz Ali, but it is still a worth-while watch.

Kidwise : This film has a UA rating from the Censor Board, which is kind of equivalent to PG-13, and I agree with it. There is some heavy petting, kissing, allusions to sex, and skimpily dressed women; Deepika herself appears in a bikini – in which she looks fantastic. The tone and theme of the movie are mature, and probably won’t make sense to younger kids.