Cocktail reviews, cocktail movie reviews online. Saif Ali Khan, Deepika Padukon and Diana Penty starrer Cocktail movie reviews online.
Here are the critics review of Cocktail.
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 styling and visuals.
Homi Adjania’s direction is impeccable, with Padukone the jewel in his crown. Her character is complex and she displays just enough maturity while portraying it. Finally, one has a reason to say she can act. Penty is awkward, just like Meera. She reminds one of Nargis Fakhri in Ali’s last, Rockstar, only a little better. Khan “oozes charm” as he plays catch-up with much younger leading ladies. After a point you start feeling sorry for Gautam, sandwiched between friendship, love and all that jazz that makes living difficult. Boman Irani as Gautam’s Mama with a colourful past and Dimple Kapadia as his loud-mouth, conservative Delhi mother add their bits to make this concoction enjoyable.
Director Homi Adajania’s vision of a modern love story seems warped. It is devoid of any commitment, fickle enough to be chopped with a sickle and yet subscribes to every stereotype that one associates with love, circa aaj, kal and day after tomorrow. Also, it’s about time Saif Ali Khan’s characters stop drastically altering his personality from fun and flirty to love-sick romeo once he’s sipped the love potion. It’s understandable that following the explosive ‘Agent Vinod’, the junior Nawab was forced to opt for something more commercially reliable. But Saif continuing to play roles that precede his age by more than a decade is like having an illegitimate relationship with your pet animal: just because you can, doesn’t mean you do it.
Adajania starts off breezily enough, all effortless-flirting and shotglasses and dramatically teary mascara, but the threadbare and increasingly inane plot unspools halfway through, leaving us with a shoddy, frustratingly random sequence of events. The last one-third of the film features the kind of emotional melee that can only be rightfully resolved by handing one of the girls a samurai sword. Alas, no such bloody respite is offered.
Actually, the second half of Cocktail borrows from every conceivable romantic cliche, featuring much boohooing and accidents and well-meaning lies and insidious manipulation and — for some inexplicable reason — Randeep Hooda, showing off a different (and never explained) injury every time he appears. It’s as if Imtiaz and Sajid Ali — the film’s screenwriters, the men who must squarely be blamed for this tiresome misadventure — couldn’t decide which stock-ending to go for, and so decided to throw in a bunch.
The film takes a more serious turn in the second half when friendship makes way for love. Yes, Cupid strikes at the intermission point; and the film follows the oft-seen path of a typical triangular drama that has been a Bollywood staple through the last two decades.
Cocktail does have some terrific highs. One is Deepika Padukone’s performance. Easily the best in her five-year-long career; Deepika also looks sensational throughout. You almost wish the camera had stayed her longer on her in that red itsy-bitsy bikini. DP will definitely win notices and nominations for her near-faultless performance of the rich-spoilt-neglected-girl-with-a-heart-of-gold.
Cocktail has the Imtiaz Ali stamp all over the first half of it. Written by the talented filmmaker and writer, the first half of the film, despite having very random sequence strikes an instant chord with the masses purely for its breezy approach. What works most for the audience is the effortless easy going acting by all the three characters in the film interspersed with some witty one liners, light-heartedness and a very new age approach to love and relationships. One can certainly credit Homi Adjania for bringing in a fresh Vicky Christina Barcelona type appeal to this flim.
The film looks slick and good with director Homi Adajania at the helm, his wife Anaita Shroff handling the styling and cinematographer Anil Mehta behind the lens. There’s fun music too by Pritam which makes it all a blend that can give a temporary high to young adults.
The story and the characters seem like an unkempt amalgamation of Imtiaz Ali’s previous love stories. There’s tonnes of the Imtiaz Ali directed Love Aaj Kal visible with the Deepika-Saif camaraderie carrying whiffs of their previous outing together.
The first half of the film is reserved for lively sweet nothings and comedic moments triggered by the unannounced arrival of the boy’s mother from Lajpat Nagar; the second half gets down to unfolding the larger business of the heartbreaks, hard knocks and eventual emotional salvation that follows.
As you would have guessed by now, there isn’t the slightest semblance of novelty in this ménage a trois – this is exactly how it has been ever since the advent of the Archie comics in the early 1940s – but Adajania manages to impart a veneer of freshness to the sparkling broth.
Imtiaz Ali and Sajid Ali’s story is a run-of-the-mill love triangle. But it’s the screenplay and dialogues that make the movie enjoyable. Though Saif Ali Khan has some really cheesy pick-up-lines, he gets the best dialogues.
Saif Ali Khan is very good as the playboy Gautam and equally cute when he tries to win Meera. Deepika Padukone plays her part of the confused-spoilt-brat-with-a-heart-of-gold quite well. Diana Penty surprises with an apt performance as the subdued Meera (though she didn’t have much of emoting in the film)..
Homi Adajania’s direction is alright. While he has chosen a bland story, he’s handled it quite well. Much of the credit also goes to cinematographer Anil Mehta.
The film is well-packaged and looks good. But the story disappoints. Humour is consistent but not as funny as in other rom-coms. In places, the film tries too hard to be funny, like the scene where Saif is dancing in drag.
The girls steal the show in this one. Deepika Padukone looks great and puts her heart in the role. A difficult character to essay, Padukone is consistently impressive. Saif Ali Khan is alright—but he has performed the lover-boy drone better in other rom-coms. Diana Penty is a talent to look out for. She, thankfully, is modeling import who can act.
