Dinesh Kamath's Movie Column 'Best Bollywood Films of recent times – Part 7' that was published in Newsband

Movie Column

Best Bollywood Films of recent times – Part 7

By Dinesh Kamath

Cocktail (2012) directed by Homi Adajania proved to be another one of the best films of recent times.

Cocktail is a 2012 Indian romantic comedy-drama film directed by Homi Adajania under the banner of Illuminati Films. The film stars Saif Ali Khan, Deepika Padukone, and newcomer Diana Penty in lead roles, with Dimple Kapadia and Boman Irani appearing in supporting roles. Randeep Hooda has a special appearance. Adajania has previously worked with Khan, Kapadia, and Irani in his directorial debut Being Cyrus. Cocktail released worldwide on 13 July 2012 and received a positive to mixed reception from critics, with high praise directed towards Deepika Padukone's performance. The film also emerged as a major commercial success in both India and abroad. After its three-week run, Box Office India declared the movie a hit in India and abroad.

The movie depicts a love triangle between a guy and two girls, who are best friends but the complete opposite of one another. Cocktail movie is based on three characters Gautam (Saif Ali Khan), Meera (Diana Penty) and Veronica (Deepika Padukone) which is a love triangle. The story goes starts with Gautam who is an incorrigible flirt, and runs after every girl he sees. Meera is a pretty girl who believes in desi values and attire, and comes to London from Delhi for a fresh start. Veronica is the spoilt bombshell who loves partying and drinking. Though different from each other, these three are perfect friends staying under one roof until friendship becomes confusing, and love becomes complicated.

Critical reception

Rubina A Khan of Firstpost gave the movie 4/5 stars, saying that "Cocktail is a contemporary film that reflects life as it happens all around us…. just as crazy, twisted, beautiful, funny, weird and lonely as anyone's life can be. It's about easy choices and hard decisions and how life still goes on, despite it all. It's a cocktail you definitely wanna try!"

Khalid Mohamed of Deccan Chronicle gave the movie 3.5/5 stars, concluding that "Whatever the flaws and dips in energy-level, Cocktail is a feel-wonderful movie. Shake it, stir it and get nicely woozy." Meena Iyer of Times of India gave the movie 3.5/5 stars, commenting that "What Cocktail should be truly applauded for is its permissiveness. As a film it breaks shackles and ushers in a new free spirit that Gen-Now will relate to. "Aniruddha Guha of DNA India gave the movie 3.5/5 stars, stating that "The best thing about Cocktail is that it is as different as a film can get within a very conventional format. My favourite scene has Gautam talk to Veronica and Meera together about his feelings towards each of them. "Look. You love me. I love her. Let's sort this mess out." A rare moment in Hindi cinema." Anupama Chopra of Hindustan Times gave the movie 3.5/5 stars, commenting that "This cocktail is full of fizz."

Nabanita Roy of One India gave the movie 3/5 stars, concluding that "On the whole, Cocktail is colourful, fascinating and attention-grabbing. Though the movie suffers a few loopholes, but, you definitely can't ignore the threesome magic of Saif-Dippy-Diana." Resham Sengar of Zee News gave the movie 3/5 stars, stating that "'Cocktail' is worth a try!" Devesh Sharma of Filmfare gave the movie 3/5 stars, concluding that "All-in-all, it's a nice urban romance. But again, this isn't how I would like to describe a Imtiaz-Homi collaboration. You expected something with a twist, what you get is a pat too sweet – a Bloody Mary without the Vodka." Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV gave the movie 3/5 stars, commenting that "Cocktail has just the right mix of fizz and flavour to allow the occasional and inevitable crinkles of triteness to flow well below the surface. It is definitely worth a visit to the multiplex." Vinayak Chakravorthy of India Today gave the movie 3/5 stars, concluding that "If Cocktail works, it is mainly for the characters Imtiaz has penned well as the cool with which the lead stars live them on screen." Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama gave the movie 3/5 stars, saying that "On the whole, COCKTAIL has a fascinating first half, charismatic performances, harmonious music and the trendy look and styling as its aces, but the second half is not as tempting or intoxicating as the first hour. It pales when compared to the attention-grabbing first hour. Yet, all said and done, this one's primarily targeted at the Gen Next, especially those in metros, who might identify with the on-screen characters." Blessy Chettiar of DNA India gave the movie 3/5 stars, stating that "You can't hate a film like Cocktail nor can you love it in totality. If you've liked Ali's storytelling before, there's no harm in catching it at least once. Cheers!"

Kunal Guha of Yahoo! gave the movie 1.5/5 stars, stating that "One of the chief reasons why this cocktail fails to hit your sweet spot is because you don't empathize with any of the characters. There could be many reasons for this but to point one: none of them seem worthy of your attention and concern. Still keen to figure out who Saif ends up with? Why don’t you deduce it yourself like any mature adult would? I would recommend the scientific method used to pick item girls in films lately: Eenie Meenie…" Mayank Shekhar of Daily Bhaskar gave the movie 1.5/5 stars, concluding that "You feel worse for Saif aged 43. It's hard to tell how every woman he meets in the movie gets turned on by his random charms. The world is his playground. He still makes it seem vaguely convincing. Here's a big league actor at the top of his form. Look at his recent films: Agent Vinod, Aarakshan, Kurbaan. Forget those films. Just check out his performances. He could do with much better movies. Surely. Seriously."

Reception

The music album of Cocktail received positive reviews. Tumhi Ho Bandhu, Daaru Desi and Second Hand Jawaani, which featured the three leads became chart-busters. Tumhi Ho Bandhu paved the way to get to the 1st position at the Radio-Mirchi top 100.

Box office

Domestic

Cocktail had an excellent opening of 75–80% on average at multiplexes and having bumper opening at many multiplexes of North India at around 100%. The film had a very good first day as it collected around Rs.10.75 crore (US$1.5 million) nett on day one. It showed good growth on Saturday as it collected Rs. 11.75 crore (US$1.6 million) nett. Cocktail had an extraordinary weekend at multiplexes than single screens as it notched up business of around Rs. 3.67 crore (US$510,000) nett from both. Cocktail held up well on Monday as it collected around ₹6 crore (US$830,000) nett. Cocktail collected around Rs.5 crore (US$700,000) nett on Tuesday. The business after five days is approx Rs.46.75 crore (US$6.5 million) nett. Cocktail did good business in its first week as it collected Rs. 54.50 crore (US$7.6 million) nett approx at the domestic box office, making it the first multiplex-targeted film to cross the Rs. 50 crore (US$7.0 million) mark in the first week. Cocktail grossed Rs. 17.25 crore (US$2.4 million) nett approx in week two. Cocktail fell badly in its third week due to new releases. The film has collected Rs. 73 crore (US$10 million) nett in three weeks. It was declared a box office hit. At domestic market its final figures came at Rs.75 crore (US$10 million). The film's final all-India distributor share was Rs.37.25 crore (US$5.2 million)

Overseas

Cocktail opened well in overseas markets. The opening was around $2.6 million. Cocktail dropped in its second weekend and has grossed Rs, 20.71 crore (US$2.9 million) in ten days. The film eventually collected US$4.50 million overseas.