Cocktail 2

Be practical (read: boring and safe) or free-spirited (read: fun and unpredictable)? That’s the life-defining choice Kunal (Shahid Kapoor) has to make by the end of two hours and 30 minutes of Homi Adajania’s Cocktail 2. It sees the audience go from drab Delhi to sunny, sandy and scenic Sicily and back to drab Delhi, witness an excess of sartorial flourishes from costume designer Anaita Shroff Adajania and watch the trio—Ally (Kriti Sanon), Diya (Rashmika Mandanna) and Kunal—laugh their way through life to such extravagance that your own cheeks hurt at their expense.

Whether fidelity constitutes a decisive factor in a relationship depends largely on the expectations, boundaries, and understandings negotiated by the partners themselves. While traditional marriage has historically placed a premium on sexual and emotional exclusivity, contemporary relationship dynamics reveal a far more nuanced spectrum of beliefs about what ultimately sustains a successful partnership. Cinema, however—particularly Hindi cinema—has often lagged behind these evolving realities. For decades, the screen was populated by self-abnegating heroines, memorably portrayed by actors such as Meena Kumari, Mala Sinha, and Nanda, women who seemed almost eager to embrace suffering as proof of devotion. Their emotional universe was encapsulated in the oft-quoted refrain: “Hai isi mein pyar ki aabroo, woh jafa kare, main wafa karoon”—loosely translated as, “The true honour of love lies in remaining faithful and devoted even when the beloved is cruel or unfaithful.”

There is no delicate way to put this: Cocktail 2 boasts one of the most ludicrous stories I have encountered in recent memory. A spiritual sequel to Cocktail (2012), the film ostensibly wants to discuss modern relationships, commitment issues and the institution of marriage. Unfortunately, it takes such a circuitous route to get there that it makes a GPS with no signal look reliable.

A couple of weeks ago, I watched the hit of the year, Curry Barker’s Obsession. The horror film revolves around a lonely young man named Bear whose desperate wish — that his pretty coworker Nikki falls for him — comes true with terrifying consequences. The predatory entitlement of his wish turns her into a monstrous and obsessive girlfriend who loves without autonomy. It’s a neat subversion of the date-movie template. But I kept wondering why the movie left me unaffected. Worse, I didn’t find the mutating Nikki so shocking or scary. While walking out, it struck me. I realised that mainstream Hindi cinema has normalised women (in love) written by men for decades. I see an agency-free Nikki on screen in a flashy Bollywood entertainer every other week. Except, they’re presented as sane and new-age women by Bear-coded makers without a hint of satire. In other words, Cocktail 2 ruined Obsession for me before it was even made.

The very first scene establishes how our hero can charm birds out of the trees, ahem floor women. The fact that Kunal is none other than the dashing Shahid Kapoor only helps matters. But before we accuse him of playing yet another toxic lover, we learn that he is in a committed relationship with Diya (Rashmika Mandanna). The scene shifts to how men can be pathological cheaters, and while Diya is outraged, Kunal finds humour in his friend’s cheating ways. Will he too cheat when temptations comes knocking? Since ‘Cocktail 2’ is a spiritual sequel to Saif Ali Khan, Deepika Padukone and Diana Penty-starrer ‘Cocktail’ (both directed by Homi Adajania), it’s just a matter of time before the third angle in the love triangle surfaces.

It is amusing to observe that Bollywood filmmakers seem to inhabit their own male multiverses. In Yash Chopra’s world, men serenade women with flowers and sweet nothings. For Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s men, romance is best expressed through anger issues and abuse. Imtiaz Ali populates his stories with man-children who require an older person to explain the meaning of love. Sooraj Barjatya’s men barely speak, whispering as though struggling to swallow the sanskari pill he personally concocted for them. And then there is Luv Ranjan, whose men are perpetual sufferers and whose women exist solely to ruin their peace.

Over the past month, a rumour that Rashmika Mandanna and Kriti Sanon were playing a couple in Cocktail 2 caught fire*.* It grew to the point that the stars were actually asked about this. It says everything about us and our cinema that the height of imagined transgressiveness in a film might be something as basic as a lesbian couple. It’s even more revealing that, instead of letting the question hang and using the free publicity, the makers immediately shot it down (“We are three straight people,” Mandanna told reporters). Sanon is playing an Ally, but don’t take it literally.