Cocktail

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. Thats one of the prime reasons why COCKTAIL generates curiosity. But this ones about love and friendship. A tug-of-war of sorts.

Its murmured that Woody Allens VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA is the motivation behind COCKTAIL. Not true! In any case, the concept of one boy, two girls and an emerging love tale isnt an innovative subject matter for Hindi movies. In fact, scores of movies based on this plot have been narrated on the home screen prior to this. But the twirl in the romance comes when the trio seems blissful in each others company, is living together under one roof and then the unthinkable and unimaginable happens… cupid strikes. The man falls in love with his girlfriends best friend. A spanking new cocktail? Not entirely! The curse of the second half, which plagues most Hindi films, troubles COCKTAIL as well.

Meera [Diana Penty] starts living with Veronica [Deepika Padukone], after she gets dumped by Kunal [Randeep Hooda]. Meera is very desi at heart and also an introvert, while Veronica is a wild-child. Though the two are poles apart, they get close within days of getting to know each other. Enter Gautam [Saif Ali Khan], who has a torrid affair with Veronica and starts living with her. Its a no commitments relationship. Meera, however, dislikes Gautam. But the unthinkable happens: Gautam and Meera fall in love.

First things first! COCKTAIL represents a mélange of three divergent characters: Saif is wacky and outrageous, Deepika is intense and wild and Diana is calm and undemanding. Whip and fluff up the three and the title seems completely justified. Also, the three characters experience a cocktail of emotions: Love, lust, laughter and of course, all that comes with heart-break.

Homi Adajania, who made his directorial debut with BEING CYRUS, attempts a rom-com in COCKTAIL with effortless ease, handling a number of sequences with dexterity. Come to think of it, COCKTAIL is a complex film, which reflects the complexity and intricacies of human relationships. The highpoint of the film is the three sharply defined characters, besides, of course, the styli