Wahiyat Wednesday: Cocktail, a regressive film wrapped in a snazzy cover

For this week’s Wahiyat Wednesday, we discuss the absurdity of Homi Adajania directorial Cocktail. The portrayal of Deepika Padukone’s character in the film was regressive, making it one big disappointing watch.
Veronica was feisty, confident, bold and a good-hearted true friend. Do you think these are qualities of an ideal, lovable person? The makers of Cocktail thought otherwise.
It has been almost seven years since Cocktail released in theatres. But till date, the portrayal of Deepika Padukone’s character Veronica Malaney makes you squirm.
Cocktail, directed by Homi Adajania, was released the same year Vidya Balan’s Kahaani hit the theatres. While Kahaani went on to become a cult classic and redefined how women are portrayed in Hindi cinema, Cocktail became a case study in how not to show women on the big screen.
Penned by Imtiaz Ali, Cocktail was the glossy version of the 90s films where outgoing, free-spirited women were shown in a bad light. They were identified as the breed that men date, but not marry. Dressed in a short skirt, gulping drink-after-drink in bars, Deepika Padukone’s Veronica was the 2012 version of that breed.
The film’s male protagonist, Gautam Kapoor (Saif Ali Khan) is a playboy who doesn’t let go of an opportunity to flirt. He tries to woo every girl that comes within his perimeter. When the happy-go-lucky Gautam meets Veronica, sparks fly and the two end up sleeping together.
Enter Meera (Diana Penty), a god-fearing, small-town girl, abandoned by her husband in the big bad city of London. Meera now stays with Veronica, who found her crying in a public washroom and offered to help.
Relatively conservative in her approach to life, Meera is left awestruck by Veronica and Gautam’s casualness. But, she ends up accepting them and the three become good friends. The film is all fun until Gautam’s mummyji comes into the picture and he falls in love with Meera.
“There we go again,” is what we said to ourselves at that very moment. Right when you thought a Hindi film hero will accept a girl for who she is, they drag you back decades.
Veronica tries to catch Gautam’s attention. She dresses up in Indian clothes, spends time with Gautam’s mom. But the first impression is the last impression in Cocktail-land. Gautam’s mom develops a strong liking for Meera, which in turn changes Gautam’s perspective towards her. Kyuki patni toh sanskari he chahiye. London ho ya India. And Meera is sanskari.
Don’t get me wrong here. Change of heart happens and everyone has the right to love whosoever they want. But Cocktail sets the wrong precedent the moment Saif identifies his feelings for Meera.
The film confirmed our country’s old notion – women are supposed to behave in a certain manner to be considered marriage material. Cocktail’s biggest fail comes when it actually grants Gautam the opportunity of choosing between these two types of women, and even lets him have the girl in the end.
The film’s storyline was contended by the critics in 2012 too. In an earlier interview with HuffPost, Imtiaz clarified his stand on the film. He said, “I don’t think there was anything wrong in the way it was. In fact, how it was supposed to be was Veronica (Deepika Padukone’s character in Cocktail) is the type that this guy (played by Saif Ali Khan) likes. The whole point was that he goes against his type because that particular person (Diana Penty’s character) he likes a lot. It had nothing to do with somebody being Indian, or somebody being more acceptable to his family.”
Imtiaz’s sentiment didn’t come across in Cocktail and the writer accepted the same. In the same interview, he said, “The script that I wrote, people should actually read it. Not that I am saying that the director (Homi Adajania) messed it up but it just came through differently than the way it was intended to.”
Veronica wasn’t much different from Piku Banerjee, another character Deepika played in the 2015-film Piku. Both were confident women who didn’t shy away from expressing themselves. The treatment, however, starkly differed for both characters.
We crave for more characters like Veronica, unabashed and true to themselves. The big question is, will the writers give them fair treatment? Hope is all we have.