Cocktail

About the film

Cocktail is a 2012 Indian Hindi-language romantic comedy drama film written by Imtiaz Ali, directed by Homi Adajania, and produced by Saif Ali Khan and Dinesh Vijan under their respective banners Illuminati Films and Maddock Films. It stars Saif Ali Khan, Deepika Padukone and Diana Penty, in her acting debut. The film's soundtrack was composed by Pritam and Yo Yo Honey Singh.

Cocktail was released on 13 July 2012 and received positive reviews from mixed to positive reviews from critics. It emerged as a commercial success, grossing ₹126 crore worldwide, to rank as one of the highest grossing Hindi films of 2012. At the 58th Filmfare Awards, Cocktail received four nominations including Best Actress (Padukone) and Best Female Debut (Penty).

Plot

Meera Sahni (Diana Penty) is a shy and traditional Indian girl who leaves her family in India to live in London with her husband Kunal Ahuja (Randeep Hooda). While at the Heathrow Airport, she meets Gautam Kapoor (Saif Ali Khan), a shameless flirt and playboy who hits on her and asks her out. Meera, disturbed by his over-extroverted behaviour, politely tells him that she is married and then leaves. Meera searches for Kunal and finally finds him, but he is angry to see her and explains that he only married Meera for money, telling her to stay away from him. This leaves Meera heartbroken and stranded in London with no place to stay. While in the bathroom at a diner, Meera meets Veronica (Deepika Padukone), an aimless party girl who sees Meera weeping and decides to help her. Veronica takes Meera to her apartment and explains that her rich, estranged father sends her a large amount of money through a cheque every month, which helps Veronica enjoy the life of a spoilt socialite. One night, Veronica takes Meera to a nightclub, where they run into Gautam. At the club, Gautam and Veronica dance intimately and make out. The next morning, after a job interview, Meera comes home to find Gautam on the couch. She learns that Gautam and Veronica slept together the previous night. Soon, Gautam moves in with Veronica and Meera, continuing his "no strings attached" relationship with Veronica. …

Eventually, Gautam's mother Kavita (Dimple Kapadia) and his uncle Randhir (Boman Irani) arrive, looking for him. Kavita is shocked to see Gautam's drunken escapades with the two girls and wants to know if he has found anyone to settle down with yet. She does not particularly like Veronica due to her lifestyle, while Randhir develops a soft spot for her. Gautam lies to Kavita and says that he is in a relationship with Meera because she is the "ideal Indian girl" who would meet his mother's approval. During this charade, Gautam and Meera become closer and end up falling in love. However, Meera is hesitant to admit it because she does not want to hurt Veronica, her best friend. Consequently, Veronica has fallen in love with Gautam and is trying to win Kavita's approval by becoming a "decent" Indian girl.

Unable to continue with the lie, Gautam sits the two women down and explains to Veronica that even though she loves him, he is in love with Meera. Meera apologizes to Veronica, but Veronica assures her that it is okay and insists that they all go to the club to celebrate. However, at the club, a drunken Veronica breaks down, telling Gautam that she will do whatever he wants, and tells Meera that no one has ever used her the way she did. The next morning, the three part ways. Meera decides to go back to Kunal. Gautam is unable to concentrate on his work or move on, and Veronica becomes depressed and engages in increasingly dangerous and destructive behavior. Thereby, the three of them are depressed. One night, Veronica is badly injured after being hit by a car. Gautam rushes her to the hospital. Meera arrives there with Kunal to make it look like she has gotten over Gautam, and makes Gautam promise to take care of Veronica.

Production

Priyanka Chopra was the original choice for the role of Veronica, but was ultimately not cast due to creative issues. Deepika Padukone and Imran Khan were initially signed on to play the leads in the film, after their chemistry in the promos of Break Ke Baad (2010) struck a chord with the youth. However, the latter declined the film and was consequently replaced by Saif Ali Khan, who decided to also produce the film under his production house Illuminati Films. Padukone was offered both the roles of Veronica and Meera, however the character of Meera was similar to her role in Love Aaj Kal (2009) and so she chose the role of Veronica as a challenge. Model Diana Penty, who was earlier supposed to play the female lead in Imtiaz Ali's Rockstar (2011), was later signed on to Cocktail instead, on Ali's suggestion, and thus made her debut in Bollywood.

Principal photography began at the end of May 2011, in London. Many scenes were shot indoors, although the crew primarily filmed on the streets of London. Locations of the filming in London included Borough High Street, Borough Market, Portobello Road, Leicester Square, Piccadilly Circus, Mayfair, Clapham Junction, Battersea Park, Bank Station, St. Paul's London, Colville Gardens (Notting Hill) and Brick Lane. The film was also shot in Cape Town, South Africa. Padukone had gyrated to a Punjabi party song ("Main Sharaabi") at The Clapham Grand nightclub in Clapham Junction, by dancing on a table. This is reminiscent of a dance sequence in the song "Chor Bazaari" from Love Aaj Kal. Whilst security was extra tight on the day to prevent outsiders entering the premises, a DJ was hired for the music and club lights were also used to make the scene look as real as possible.

Key details