Cocktail (2012) was a fun, frothy film about three clueless people finally growing up and discovering what love and commitment actually mean. It was written by Imtiaz Ali and directed by his bro Homi Adajania. That film had Saif Ali Khan happily making out with both Deepika Padukone and Diana Penty before eventually deciding that the seedhi-saadi Meera was a better bet than the teekhi Veronica. My biggest grouse with the film was that the ‘good girl’ triumphed in the end. It felt like a cop-out. I remember calling it a Bloody Mary without the vodka.
Cocktail 2, written by Luv Ranjan and Tarun Jain and directed once again by Homi Adajania, is an entirely different drink. In fact, it is so sanskari that it feels as though it has been directed by Sooraj Barjatya.
Shahid Kapoor plays Kunal, a chef as pure as Gangajal (which, admittedly, is hardly pure these days), who has known Diya (Rashmika Mandanna) since junior college. The two seem destined for each other, yet after sixteen years together they still haven’t managed to get married. They head to Sicily for a holiday, where they run into Ally (Kriti Sanon), Diya’s friend from her phoren university days. Ally promptly dismisses their carefully planned itinerary as painfully dull and offers to show them the “real” Sicily. A free-spirited bohemian who’s hopped from one profession to another before opening a dance studio there, she injects some life into their holiday.
The three get along famously. Sorry to disappoint, but they don’t have threesomes.
Without giving too much away, Ally falls for Kunal. Will he finally marry the woman he has loved all his life, or throw caution to the wind and embrace a new adventure? Your guess is as good as mine. Of course he stays. Of course he doesn’t stray. Whom are we kidding? Virgin mojito on the rocks, anyone?
Through its three central characters, the film tries very hard to explain what love really is. According to the makers, love is like sleeping in the same torn T-shirt every night because it gives you comfort. Now try saying that in Hindi: Pyaar us phati hui T-shirt ki tarah hota hai jisme hum har raat sukoon se sote hain. The problem is obvious. Dialogues are conceived in English and then awkwardly translated into Hindi, leaving them sounding more like Instagram captions than genuine conversations.
Shahid Kapoor’s Kunal is positioned as the sensible one, the man who understands the true meaning of relationships. Naturally, this wisdom arrives in the form of one marathon speech at the end, patiently explaining love to the two women. If someone you’ve lived with for sixteen years still doesn’t understand what you feel at a deeper level, perhaps the relationship needs counselling rather than a monologue. Then again, maybe that’s the film’s point. Who knows?
Cocktail worked because Deepika Padukone’s Veronica gradually unravelled into a jealous, self-destructive wreck. Her emotional spiral gave the film its dramatic heft. Homi Adajania pulls his punches this time. Kriti Sanon’s Ally makes a move but never quite twists the knife. Rashmika Mandanna’s Diya never loses herself to jealousy either. There are no grand emotional outbursts, no messy confrontations and not nearly enough heartbreak to justify calling this a genuine conflict.
Ironically, Shahid Kapoor displayed far more passion in Kabir Singh. Yes, he played the much-maligned alpha male everyone loved to hate, but at least the emotions felt raw and visceral. Here, after discovering what both women are really feeling, he simply goes for a long drive before delivering the speech of the century.
The first Cocktail had Pritam delivering an infectious soundtrack. Tumhi ho bandhu, Daaru desi, Second hand jawaani and Yaariyan continue to live rent-free in people’s playlists. Pritam returns here as well, but while the songs serve the narrative adequately, none of them qualify as genuine earworms.
Visually, the film is a treat. The Italian countryside has been beautifully photographed, and the production design is first-rate. Unfortunately, the shallow writing doesn’t give the actors much room to shine.
Diya remains frustratingly underwritten, leaving us with little understanding of who she really is beyond being Kunal’s long-time partner. Ally’s vulnerability surfaces only in scattered moments. Kunal, meanwhile, gets all the emotional heavy lifting courtesy that climactic speech. Shahid Kapoor and Rashmika Mandanna share warm, effortless chemistry, but the same spark is missing between Shahid and Kriti, not because the actors lack it, but because the screenplay simply doesn’t allow it to develop. They practically set the screen on fire together in Teri Baaton Mein Aisa Uljha Jiya (2024). Here, their cocktail is missing one very important ingredient: fizz.
Also Read: Cocktail 2 Trailer: Shahid Kapoor, Kriti Sanon & Rashmika Mandanna Navigate Love & Friendship
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