Maddock Films and Luv Films’ Cocktail 2 (A) is a love triangle. Kunal (Shahid Kapoor) and Diya (Rashmika Mandana) are a live-in couple who are not in a hurry to get married. On a holiday in Sicily, Diya meets her friend, Ally (Kriti Sanon), with whom she had lost touch. The two friends hit it off so well in such a short time that Diya actually asks Ally to seduce Kunal as she (Diya) wants to test his loyalty towards her (Diya). Ally does exactly that and while testing Kunal’s loyalty, Ally falls in love with him. In fact, Ally becomes so obsessed with Kunal that she tries to wean him away from Diya right before their wedding in India. Yes, Ally comes to India to attend Diya’s marriage and she is the bridesmaid. What happens to Kunal’s loyalty? Whom does Kunal marry — Diya, Ally or none of them?
Luv Ranjan’s story is weird. Firstly, why would a girl trade her lover just to test his loyalty? Aren’t there other ways to be sure about whether he loves her or not? Isn’t love supposed to be felt? The scene in which Kunal makes fun of his friend for not erasing the giveaway messages from his phone chats is very kiddish because it pre-empts the audience to understand what is to follow. Making Kunal repeatedly make fun of the friend is even more childish. Ally telling Diya that Kunal may not fall in love with her but that wouldn’t be his character certificate because he could, in the future, fall in love with some other girl is the height of stupidity because in that case, marriage as an institution should collapse. After all, this (falling in love with another) could happen to anybody and at anytime. In the climax, Kunal’s reasoning put forward to Diya and Ally is good but why does it come so late? Secondly, his reasoning looks like a never-ending sermon. The screenplay, written by Tarun Jain and Luv Ranjan, is not good. Several scenes look forced and give the viewers the impression that they’ve been written only and only because they would come in handy to justify future scenes. That is definitely not good screenplay writing. The scenes in which Diya pushes boyfriend Kunal to spend time with the sexy Ally alone look silly and even stupid. On top of all this, Kunal is shown to be so innocent that he can’t see through Diya’s game! The sermonising by Kunal’s father (Tiku Talsania) about butterflies in the stomach before the day of the wedding is alright but his solution — that it will all be over before he knows it — is ridiculous. Is that even a solution? While on Kunal and his father, the former asking the latter to “get out” of his car looks too ‘modern’ a thought. Frankly, the two writers seem to have written the screenplay for the youth but they may not be aware that many youngsters will not buy into their idea of modernity. Tarun Jain and Luv Ranjan’s dialogues are good but there’s nothing excellent about them.
Shahid Kapoor acts ably as Kunal but his acting often borders on overacting. The director should have kept Shahid’s sur a few notches lower. Also, a younger hero was the need of the script. Shahid’s dances are delightful and graceful. Rashmika Mandana does well as Diya but since Hindi is not her main language, her dialogue delivery even in dramatic and melodramatic scenes appears slow. Kriti Sanon excels in the role of Ally. She gets into the skin of the character and comes out trumps. Both, Kriti and Rashmika, look beautiful. Their costumes are wonderful. Tiku Talsania is okay in a tiny role as Kunal’s father. Neelu Kohli hardly gets any scope as Kunal’s mother. Kannan Arunachalam (as Diya’s father) and Suparna Marwah (as Diya’s mother) pass muster in the very limited scope they get. Ajay Madhok (as Ally’s father) and Sudha Menon (as Ally’s mother) fit the bill in very brief roles. Nishchay Malik (as friend Aditya), Deepak Kalra (as friend Rohit), Arun Singh (as friend Krish), Nadeesh Bhambi (as friend Manav), Ana (as friend Danisha), Juhi (as friend Megha), Meha (as friend Pooja), Shailaja (as friend Rhea), Kangan Baruah Nangia (as Diya’s friend, Ruhi), Tarun Khan (as the wedding planner), Shankar Lal Mahawar (as the pandit), Aritro Banerjee (as Kunal’s chef, Raghu), and all the others are ordinary, mainly because they get almost nil scope.
Homi Adajania’s direction caters only to the city-bred among the youth. In other words, like the script, Adajania’s narration also alienates a good part of the audience. Pritam Chakraborty’s music is fantastic and the best part of the film. Mashooqa and Jab talak are hit songs. The Tumhi ho bandhu song from Cocktail, of course, is a hot favourite. The Tujhko number is supremely melodious. Leher and the other songs are also tuneful. Amitabh Bhattacharya’s lyrics are perfectly in sync with the youthful feel of the film. Song picturisations (by Vijay A. Ganguly) are extraordinary. Pritam Chakraborty’s background music is wonderful. Santhana Krishnan Ravichandran’s cinematography is superb and so are the foreign locales. Bindiya Chabriya and Arvind Ashok Kumar’s production designing, and Ramesh Yadav and Hemlal Mahto’s art direction are proper. Akshara Prabhakar’s editing should’ve been sharper.
On the whole, Cocktail 2 is meant for only the classes among the youngsters. It lacks universal appeal and will not be liked by the audience in the 35-plus age group.
Released on 19-6-’26 at Inox (daily 9 shows) and other cinemas of Bombay thru Jio Studios. Publicity: excellent. Opening: quite good. …….Also released all over. Opening ranged from dull to fair.