This Cocktail Looks Better Than It Tastes...

Cocktail Review - In Brief
Three friends explore the meaning of love, heart-break and friendship.


Cocktail Review - Verdict
Homi Adajania's film has immense visual appeal but a predictable story-line.


Cocktail Review - Story Plot
Gautam Kapoor (Saif Ali Khan) is the incorrigible Casanova who strikes a friendship with self-confessed 'rich bitch' Veronica (Deepika Padukone) and Meera (Diana Penty), a traditional Indian woman, who has been duped by her husband Kunal (Randeep Hooda). Though Gautam and Veronica have a 'friends with benefits' relationship, the former is forced to lie to his mother Kavita (Dimple Kapadia) that he is dating Meera (as Meera is more traditional and Kavita approves of her).

As Gautam and Meera are forced to spend time together to put up an appearance, they both feel drawn to each other, which creates complications when the hitherto wild child Veronica also falls for Gautam and dreams of a future with him. How the three manage to deal with these issues forms the rest of the story…


Cocktail Review - Performances
At the very outset, it should be mentioned that viewers who have grown up reading Archie comics might get a jolt of deja vu when they watch this flick. Gautam is Archie whereas Veronica and Meera play Veronica and Betty respectively. Saif's Gautam is sure to remind you of the characters he has played in films like Dil Chahta Hai and Love Aaj Kal and there is nothing that he really brings to the table as such. Diana Penty might have a fresh face but she really needs to brush up on her acting skills. However, it is Deepika Padukone as Veronica who makes quite an impact. Padukone, who mostly has a 'girl next door' image, has transformed herself into a hot and glamorous avatar for Cocktail, which is sure to set temperatures soaring in the movie-hall. Apart from the aforementioned trio, we have Boman Irani as Gautam's uncle and needless to say, the veteran Irani is flawless as ever. Dimple Kapadia plays the stereotypical loud Punjabi mother, but is quite endearing in her own way. Watch out for the scenes involving interactions between Saif, Boman and Dimple…a few chuckles are guaranteed!


Cocktail Review - Direction
Like mentioned earlier, the film is a grown-up version of the Archie comic series. Though Adajania has come up with a movie that is visually appealing and colourful, the plot unfortunately is as predictable as can be. Moreover, the process of the characters falling in love with each other is not quite convincing. Why does Gautam, who considers Meera more as a platonic friend (despite the harmless flirting), suddenly fall for her is something that is not really explained. Moreover, Veronica, who is quite happy with her wild party girl image and her 'no strings attached' relationship with Gautam, too falls heels over head in love with him overnight and decides to turn into the traditional Indian girl to win his heart. The plot about an hero, who might sleep with a different girl everyday but still fall in love with a typical bhartiya nari types seems a tad preachy, not to mention predictable and stereotypical. The first half of the film passes by quite breezily though the same cannot be said for the second half.


Cocktail Review - Technical
The story might be predictable and without any real surprises, but Adajania and his team get full marks as far as visual appeal goes. The cinematography, the styling and the way the songs have been shot are quite easy on the eyes. The film does have a fresh and colourful look and the music too is quite decent, specially the tumhi ho bandhu number, which will make you tap your feet and hum along…


Cocktail Review - Final Word
Do watch Cocktail for the fresh and yuppie look it has as well as Deepika Padukone's sizzling avatar, though expecting too much as far as the plot is concerned, might lead to disappointment.

Cocktail - An amazing album with a variety of rich music

Cocktail - meaning, a drink made from various alcoholic drinks and when done perfectly really tastes great. Cocktails have evolved from experiments, few of them were successful and few not so successful. Seems this is what Pritam wanted to do this time and he has not only succeeded but made his mark on it. Truly, this cocktail should be named - Pritam's cocktail.

There is a long unusual list of 11 songs in the album; each one is unique in its own, mixed with a perfect blend of music, melody and instruments in background. All the songs are done very neatly - from rock to Sufi, from bandhu to sakha, from good voice to excellent music, from soft number to a rock number, from young to old, there is something for all.

Track one, Tum Hi Ho Bandhu is already a massive hit. This is a masterpiece done by Pritam. Just realize this one – it is Sufi song done by Kavita Seth accompanied by modern instruments and good fast music, Never ever heard before. This one is melodious, soft but still a peppy number. Not to forget lyrics too add on magic Tum Hi Ho Bandhu, as these words were a prayer sung in morning school assemblies.

The second song of the album, Daaru Desi has a different strength to its credit; the lyrics are simple and easy to remember. Each of us can easily hum this one and this is actually what makes it unique.

Next track Second Hand Jawani is a well done item number by Neha Kakkar which is fulfilling the purpose of a number that can attract masses and people can correlate this item number with the movie.

An experiment, Yaariyaan is a true rock number and another dimension of what Pritam has created. For people who are in love with rock music, this is Pritam's gift and what makes it more recognizable are some beautiful voals by Mohan Kanan. Though the length of the song is over 6 minutes it never bogs you down.

Followed by this is the track Lutna, a Sufi song, which is another experiment in the forte of Pritam da. A mix of modern instruments and amazing play of keyboard, this Sufi number is work of a genius.

Next in the album is Tera Naam Japdi Phiran , which is just an ordinary Punjabi number mixed with English punch lines that are inspired by the Barbie series.

The experiment moves to the next track of Yaarian (reprise). Starting with the beautiful play of keyboard, it is accompanied by beautiful, melodious and soft voice of Sunidhi Chauhan which mixes high notes well. Usually it is found that two versions of the same song are not so different in an album, but this is not the case here. To say if one is sun and another is moon; these two versions are very different and done beautifully which shows that music director has been willing to takes up the challenge to do the same number in different ways and pretty much succeeded.

Jugni, is another gift for Sufi and rock lovers. It is Punjabi Sufi track with an element of rock in it and what makes it different from the league is the experiment done with drums. The next two tracks though, second versions each of Tera Naam Japdi Phiran and Lutna, are not much different from their original tracks and look just a repeat.

Last but not the least is Main Sharabi, a track that is not so impressive, but reminds of Gurdas Maan numbers. The song can do well in a cocktail party and enjoyed after couple of drinks.

One rarely sees so many experiments being successfully done at one go and this challenge is lived up by Pritam. Overall it is an amazing album with a variety of rich music which has something for all.

Music lovers would be delighted to hear this kind of album after a long, long time and going to live it for some more time to come.