Cocktail of Characters

Cocktail is directed by Homi Adajania who came out with Being Cyrus. He also coauthored the movie and the movie got released in 2005 did not make a stir commercially. 7 years after comes Cocktail which is a lot more contemporary and has definite influences drawn from Imtiaz Ali who incidentally coauthored Cocktail along with Sajid Ali. Imtiaz Ali’s Love aaj kal came out in 2009. Looking at the movies released off late Bollywood has grown leaps and bounds and has successfully shied away from the love story types. There are many more subjects on which movies come out now. But an ardent Bollywood fan yearns for a good love story because for years now that has been its forte. Cocktail comes a good way in fulfilling that longing with a twist of contemporary in it.

The movie stars the same pair as Love aaj kal (there we go again) Saif Ali Khan and Deepika Padukone along with Diana Penty. They are ably assisted by versatile Boman Irani, resplendent Dimple Kapadia and a highly underrated Randeep Hooda. Saif Ali Khan has carved a niche for himself. Omkara seems like such a long time ago. I am not counting Agent Vinod in this for obvious reasons. The Indian “Ashton Kutcher”, if I may call him that does it again in style and the goofiness that he has made his own. He is responsible for the comic element and the certain feeling of the protagonist being lost which is something he has mastered by now. Deepika looks good as the “hep chick” from London. Her character is on the same lines of what she has played in Karthik calling Karthik and Love aaj kal. Apparently directors are convinced that she pulls it off really well. Well as audience I have never been very convinced with that. She has done a good job in Cocktail where she has to play various shades and she does look convincing but overall she still brings certain artificiality to the character than naturalness. This is where Priyanka Chopra has probably beaten her by a distance. Diana Penty is a good debut and I can only see her getting better from here. She looks very pretty but emotional scenes found her wanting. Boman Irani and Dimple Kapadia add well to the comedy element and the sentimental scenes. Randeep Hooda’s character goes through a change in the movie and it can almost go unnoticed. That part of the story was so beautifully done that a little bit of emphasis from Homi would have added more meat to “Meera” which is Diana’s character. On a totally unrelated note I think Imtiaz Ali loves the name Meera.

Cocktail is a story set in London and Cape Town about desis who go there and lead a life which is diametrically different from what is available in our country. After seeing such a portrayal in so many movies you can conclude safely that whatever is being said about that life is so not true. Girl-gone-bad finds goody-two-shoes and they become friends. Enter the guy and initially he fits in seamlessly. Then comes the mother and this part is where the movie probably scores most. Latent facets of characters are exposed when a family connection is established. Then come the complication, heartbreak and sacrifice. That part’s expected but the backdrop of how the whole thing is caused is pretty nicely done. Cocktail is a blend of emotions with a dash of comedy and touch of feel-good added as an umbrella on top. It concludes expectedly and the audience would want just that. It offers thrills, frills and some tears on the way but the mood and pace is well maintained. The actors complement each other pretty well and for me Saif Ali Khan stole the show yet again. Pritam offers great music and it has already created the much needed buzz for the movie

I had the privilege of watching the movie with three women. At the end of the movie I was quite amused to note a certain observation that seemed like a common thread amongst all three of them. They felt that the movie portrayed a guy who picks a girl who is “gharelu” in place of a girl who he meets in the first place in a more casual arrangement. After seeing enough movies on this subject, both Hollywood and Bollywood, I’d like to think and hope that that was not the director’s intention. Love is just a very strange thing. It never follows a pattern or logic. In certain cases there are circumstances else it is just the way it is offering no explanation. The story could have easily been the other way around and the audience would be rooting for Deepika to get Saif. To say that all men ultimately want to take only the “gharelu” type to their moms is a derision of the subject of love and men. But then that is my opinion.

Watch Cocktail especially when most of your friends have rubbished it. It will set the lowest expectation. After so many serious thought provoking movies it is good old Bollywood and don’t we love it!