Cocktail-Three is not a crowd!

One of the most anticipated Hindi Movies of the year-Cocktail released this past week to mixed reactions from everyone. But even as everyone was contemplating what would be the fate of this movie-it had already earned 36 crores in 3 days making it among the biggest hits this year.

From the Director-Actor Duo who brought us 'Being Cyrus' and the Writer-Actor Duo who brought us 'Love Aaj Kal' the genres of those movies coming together itself is a reason to call this movie-Cocktail

Now this is certainly a romantic comedy, but the treatment is different. For one, there is hardly any background music throughout the movie-something which I was irritated about at first but gradually it grew on me. Secondly, the dialogue and screenplay feels real and not dramatic and over-the-top. There is this particular scene in the kitchen of their home where Saif is talking out a serious situation with Deepika and Diana and that could have been full of tears, drama and other such nonsense..But the way it has been shot is truly commendable. It says so much by saying so little.

The premise, I do not want too give away but of course,you must know by now that it is indeed a tale of 3 friends who are a little too close for comfort and when you have one couple among them, it certainly complicates things.

What I do want to talk about are the performances, because to be honest, the script is not top-notch. Neither is the music in the second half. What holds this movie together are the performances of EVERYONE involved. To start of with Saif's performance has been criticized by many for this film. But trust me, if there is anyone who makes you laugh the hardest-it's him. His timing and delivery will leave you howling with laughter for much of the first half. Secondly, Newcomer Diana Penty is a real find. She is not only simply stunning with her captivating presence on screen but also is not a bad actor-there is scope for improvement though but certainly Penty is better than her contemporaries of recent times(Fakhree-this means you).Thirdly Boman and Dimple-the pair who are playing siblings in the film are  expectantly brilliant with their performances and ensure they leave a mark with their short performances. I am hoping that Kaka saw this movie before he passed away and felt proud of what his wife is still capable of.

The Standout Performance as you might have guessed by now is our very own Deepika who delivers something that is certainly the best of her career. She is brash and bitchy as Veronica but handles the emotions oh-so well without making it seem too dramatic and keeping in tone with the movie.Trust me, her shedding her clothes for this movie doesn't take away anything from her performance but instead adds so much to her character. It's one performance that she will remember for a long time to come.

Overall, Cocktail is a breezy film that could have been a tad shorter towards the end, but nevertheless will keep you entertained and won't disappoint if your expectations were as much as mine.

I'm going with 3 out of 5 for Homi Adjania's Cocktail.

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Desi Summer Blockbuster:Gangs of Wassepur

As I begin to write this review, I just think that for these kinds of movies I am in such a dilemma. There are several reasons for me to feel this way. Firstly it is a movie that has been appreciated extensively by the West. It is a movie that has got mixed reactions right here in India and most of my close friends either like the movie or do not understand it. So at this juncture, it does cross one’s mind that do I play it safe and go with the review that people want to hear and what is pretty established about its perceptions, or do I give an honest opinion from my heart. I’m glad to say that for this one, I am certainly going with the latter to give you a different perspective and to tell you my experience in it’s entirety.

Anurag Kashyap is known to have mastered the ‘noir’ genre in Indian Cinema. He has been compared to greats like Tarantino and for good reason, although his consistency is still far from the people he is compared to. In the prologue of the movie you can see that he has thanked certain people to help inspire him to go back to his roots, which in my head is him smoking up and writing stories, but it also means making cinema purely for cinema and without any commercial expectations. This Film currently has recovered enough money to be called a hit, and with the sequel to release(yes, there is a sequel) in 2 months time, it will ensure that the movie earns way above it’s investment. But had it been that this movie released 10 years back when ‘Anurag Kashyap’ wasn’t a brand of filmmaking, this movie would have been down in the dumps, much like his most brilliant film ever-Black Friday.

But times have changed, audiences have changed and movies have changed and how! Gangs of Wassepur is a new-gen take on what is actually the oldest concept in Hindi Cinema-Revenge!!..it does not go all out like Zanjeer or Agneepath, nor does it go slick like Don, it’s just lazy, laidback and plays like a backstory actually, which is sort of the thing that I have the biggest problem with. It has made a movie of 2 hours and 45 minutes to say so little and is pending it’s conclusion in a sequel which is going to be equally long, and it’s not kine there is a lot to show really, it’s just that he has stressed on situations and characters in the movie who might not even have any consequence to the real story!!...

Too many characters, too many sub-plots, although lend entertainment to the movie no doubt, but could have been well avoided. Like my cousin, who I saw the movie with said, ‘Dude, you should smoke up and watch this movie’ and I agree, coz Anurag himself might have been in a trance-like state while making this. It’s too self-indulgent to be mainstream cinema and not like I have a thing against alternate cinema-I liked DevD and loved Black Friday from the same director, but this just a bit too extreme. I will certainly watch the sequel when it comes, and I hope all the characters they so painfully introduced in this film, will have some effect on the outcome of the story.

I cannot finish this review without mentioning the guy who holds this movie together, the most underrated actor ever-Manoj Bajpai. Sheer Genius is what you could call his performance in the film!.In every Frame, whether the situation is comical, dramatic or even romantic, this guy definitely delivers the goods and deserves all the accolades that he is getting. I won’t say too much but I hope he is there in the sequel as well.

Overall, I honestly do not know know whether to recommend you to watch this movie or not because a lot of my friends like it, and I don’t. I would suggest you watch Teri Meri Kahaani and let me know how that was ;-)

I’m going with 2.5 out of 5 for Gangs of Wassepur!!

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