Worth A Sip, But Doesn't Leave That Good an After-Taste!

With the flashes of uber cool promos, rage tunes of ‘Tumhi ho bandhu…’ and ‘Daaru Desi’, contemporary styling and a advanced promotion, COCKTAIL instantly became the most anticipated ‘Rom-Com’ of the season. Falling in genre known to be the most loved amongst youth, and getting released in a rainy weather with a romantic tinge, COCKTAIL created an image of a perfect romantic comedy which would get easily clicked with the young guns.

It starts, on a promising note. It provides few laughs with two or more deliberate situations, then you seek for romance, and movie suddenly hits the serious note making you confused about its genre. Result: Disappointment.

However, it is all the expectation part. So it’s better to expect nothing. Nothing sort of romantic comedy and all, and give it a benefit of doubt. We end up finding old Desi Daaru in a new glass. The film is not about love. It is more about friendship. It deals with the complications of love. Three characters, an ace flirt Gautam [Saif], an innocent -any guy would want to introduce her to his mom kind of girl- Meera [Diana Penty] and a bindaas babe with a typical girly heart Veronika [Deepika Padukone], live together, enjoy together. They share food, drinks, clothes, apartment. Until now all is fine, but when it comes to live for their own selves and sharing something much more than just things, complications knocks in.

First of all, plot is realistic (to a large extent), thanks to the director Homi Adjania who succeeds in making it little bit different from the run of the mills love triangles. However he fails to bring depth to the characters. Even with the able characterisation, ‘the connect’ remains missing, attributed to the lack of depth. Otherwise, it has all ingredients of a perfect ‘entertainer’ [the word ‘rom-com’ could sound too overused]. Music, is peppy, foot tapping, goes so well with the proceedings. Camera work is slick, locales are picturesque, screenplay plays well with laughter and the other emotions [sometimes patience too].

Actors are in form. Saif is charming as ever, proves once again he is the best choice for an urban, contemporary metrosexual guy. Deepika Padukone is helluva sexy on screen and does wonders as a brattish Veronica, she rocks in her career-best performance so far. Diana Penty is immensely lovable. Splashing the beauty over screen, she makes confident debut. Her Meera makes us fall in love with her, while she itself makes us fall in love with Meera. Boman Irani and Dimple Kapadia are fabulous as usual provide ample dose of laughter. Randeep Hooda cakewalks in a minor role. On and all, the accomplished star cast is a strong positive side of the movie.

Film could have fallen flat or it could have excelled from the make or break point of choosing different route by getting serious and heavy. It neither falls nor does it excel. It rides its plain path and ends well. However, had it been taken the serious part seriously it would have ended up as a much better cinema that connects and how!