2 Stars (out of 4)
Before Cocktail 2, it never occurred to me to question how much of the success of 2012’s Cocktail was due to Homi Adajania’s direction versus the screenplay by Imtiaz Ali and Sajid Ali. Adajania answered that question when he returned to direct the disappointing Cocktail 2, based on a cliched, outdated screenplay by Luv Ranjan and Tarun Jain that is beyond salvaging.
Following the same basic setup of a love triangle that undermines a female friendship, Cocktail 2 introduces long-time couple Kunal (Shahid Kapoor) and Diya (Rashmika Mandanna). They are seemingly happy in their live-in relationship until Kunal drunkenly jokes in front of their friends that, if he were to cheat on Diya, he’d be smart enough not to get caught.
Diya is embarrassed, but Kunal doesn’t see the big deal. His increasing time away from home feeds into her insecurities. She tells him they should get married, and he agrees, “If that will make you happy.” He implies that the only reason for marriage is to appease others outside the relationship, dismissing the possibility that Diya’s feelings have changed.
The critical point in this conversation is that Diya wants to be someone Kunal wants to marry, not for him to accede to her request just to shut her up. She wants real proof that he’s committed to her. He’s content with the status quo.
They decide to take a romantic trip to Sicily to renew their relationship, only for it to be hijacked by Diya’s college friend Ally (Kriti Sanon). She’s a vagabond who does odd jobs while traveling the globe, never staying in any one place for long. She tracks down the couple from Diya’s social media posts and insists that they stay with her for the duration of the trip. So much for a private getaway.
Diya secretly asks Ally to seduce Kunal; if he gives in to Ally’s advances, Diya will know their relationship is over. Ally points out that if Kunal resists, it won’t do anything to assuage Diya’s doubts. Even though no 30-something in Ally’s position would ever agree to participate, she does because this is a movie written by men.
There’s plenty more evidence that this is a movie by men for men. Ally dresses exclusively in bikini tops, even when she’s nowhere near the beach. Kunal is portrayed as the victim even though it was his own cruel joke and dismissal of Diya’s feelings that created the mess in the first place.
Kapoor and Mandanna don’t do much to make their characters interesting or sympathetic. He makes weird faces, whereas she plays things too straight, even while doing objectively ridiculous things.
Cocktail 2 is watchable thanks entirely to Sanon’s performance as Ally. As her pursuit of Kunal goes on, she finds herself falling for him — something she’d resolved never to let happen. The emotional toll weighs heavily on her, and Sanon depicts it with sensitivity.
Then Ally does a bunch of stupid stuff that would never happen in a movie where any woman had a hand in the script. Why Adajania thought he could make something thought-provoking or moving from this reductive story about overly-emotional women is a mystery.
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