Cocktail

Rating : 7/10
Release Date : 13th July, 2012
Time : 146 minutes
Director : Homi Adajania; Writers : Imtiaz Ali, Sajid Ali; Music : Pritam
Starring : Saif Ali Khan, Deepika Padukone, Diana Penty, Boman Irani, Dimple Kapadia, Randeep Hooda

It starts off as a Long Island Iced Tea (heady, potent), transforms into a Bloody Mary (traditional, boring) in the middle but ends as a Cosmopolitan (cool, delicious, enjoyable).

Light, breezy and very, very funny with fantastic performances, it loses its way momentarily during the second half for about 20 odd minutes by bringing in too much senti drama but then thankfully autocorrects and finds its way back with an appropriately funny closing sequence.

Saif is an incorrigible flirt, determined to bed every attractive woman he see’s. Diana is a typical Indian girl except she is stunning with legs that go on for miles and a pout which can make you walk for many. She prays everyday, wears appropriate clothing, drinks milk, doesn’t do too much alcohol and is rescued from being homeless by Deepika who is none of the above. Deepika is the other extreme, the type who is known to everyone in every nightclub, doesn’t believe in wearing pants if at home, drinks like a fish and dances like a dervish. And, like Saif, she doesn’t believe in all this marriage-sharriage kind of stuff. So when the two of them get together and start living, with Diana, in the same apartment, life couldn’t be too far from perfect. Until Dimple, Saif’s mom, walks in…

They got the characters and casting just right. Diana is the surprise package (Where does Saif find them ? Remember Giselle in Love Aaj Kal ?). She is gorgeous with a smile that radiates, looks sweet and shy and demure and all things that most prospective mother in laws would want. Plays her part perfectly. Deepika brings life and soul to her character, who is the anti-Christ for all moms seeking a match for their son. She is brash, brazen, leggy, openly sexual, in bikinis or something similar for most of the film and thinks she is stronger than she really is. Deepika gets it so right that I fear she is going to be given many more roles like this one, kind of what has happened to Kareena after Jab We Met.

Saif has made the ‘lovable ruffian’ his own exclusive territory for a long time and in this one he seems to really let his hair down and go the whole hog. He picks up women with the ease of James Bond but without the tux. He is funny, caring, sweet, loving, good looking and a blast to be with. That ‘Sheila ki Jawaani’ performance will longer in memory !

Most Hindi films suffer from verbosity. They lack the one liners, the pithy punchlines and the humour of the non slapstick kind. Not this one. You’re smiling most of the time, and laughing uproariously at least a few times. The repartee sizzles except for the brief twenty minutes when, again a malady afflicting most Bollywood movies, the makers feel compelled to introduce conflict and emotional drama. The music is excellent, enhancing the fun & moments of madness and going quiet when needed. Another thing to watch out for are the dresses, Saif & Deepika’s wardrobe in particular suits them perfectly. The love triangle could possibly have been shown better, comes as a little bit out of the blue. Why her and not me is a question that plagues not only the two heroines but also the audience as we’re not quite sure why Saif makes the choices he does.

Still when you walk out of the hall, what lingers is the fun, the frolic and a Hindi (well, 25% English) movie that stretches boundaries and traditional moralities like never before. This isnt a film that will last with you forever or has any deep lessons but neither is it mindless or crass. Saif is the guy we would all like to be, Diana the girl we’d all like to marry and Deepika the woman we would all love to bed. Endearing leads, good chemistry and generous doses of humour make it as heady a watch as a well-made example of its title.