Cocktail is an upcoming Bollywood romantic comedy film directed by Homi Adajania under Saif Ali Khan's banner Illuminati Films. The film stars Saif Ali Khan and Deepika Padukone in lead roles, who star in their third film together after Love Aaj Kal and Aarakshan. The film will be based on a love triangle with debutante Diana Penty also starring opposite Khan in a lead role. Randeep Hooda, Dimple Kapadia and Boman Irani will feature in key roles. The film is scheduled for release on 13 July 2012.

Plot

The story revolves around Gautam Khanna (Saif Ali Khan), Veronica D'Costa (Deepika Padukone) and Meera Gupta (Diana Penty). Gautam Khanna (Saif Ali Khan) always had a dream to go to London and have a job. His dream is fullfilled and he gets a job. But his mom, Nita (Dimple Kapadia) says that she has to finalize his marriage to a girl and so he has to wait. She finds her perfect 'bahu' in Meera Gupta (Diana Penty). But she does not tell Gautam about this and tells Meera's parents even to not tell Meera. She tells Gautam to take her friend's daughter Meera as she has an assignment in London for 3 days. On the flight, Meera and Gautam befriend each other. In London, Meera has some problems completing her assignment and therefore fails to give it on time. She loses her job but then Gautam consoles her. They go on a beach party and there they meet Veronica D'Costa (Deepika Padukone). After some days of living with each other, Gautam falls in love with Veronica. But the thing that Gautam doesn't know about her is that Veronica is already in love with Jeremy Viegas (Randeep Hooda). Now, Meera has started to fall in love with Gautam and Jeremy has started disliking Veronica because of her choosy behaviour and started loving Meera

Cast

Saif Ali Khan as Gautam Khanna
Deepika Padukone as Veronica D'Costa
Diana Penty as Meera Gupta
Randeep Hooda as Jeremy Viegas
Dimple Kapadia as Khanna
Boman Irani as Randhir Khanna (Randy)

Casting

Imran Khan and Deepika Padukone were signed on to play the leads in the film, after their chemistry in the promos of Break Ke Baad struck a chord with the youth. However, the former was replaced by Saif Ali Khan, who decided to also produce the film under his production house Illuminati Films. Padukone was offered both the roles of Veronica and Meera, however the character of Meera was similar to her role in Love Aaj Kal and so she chose the role of Veronica as a challenge. Model Diana Penty, who was earlier supposed to play the female lead in Imtiaz Ali's Rockstar, was later signed on to Cocktail instead, on Ali's suggestion.

Filming

Shooting of the film started at the end of May 2011, in London. Many scenes have been shot indoors, although the crew primarily filmed on the streets of London. Locations of the filming in London include Borough High Street, Borough market, Portobello Road, Leicester Square, Piccadilly Circus, Mayfair, Clapham Junction, Battersea Park, Bank Station, St. Pauls London, Colville Gardens (Notting Hill Gate), and Brick Lane.[11] They have also had a schedule lasting 20 days in Cape Town, South Africa but faced problems due to the weather.

Padukone has gyrated to an English party song at the The Grand nightclub in Clapham Junction, by dancing on a table. This is reminiscent of a dance sequence in the song Chor Bazaari from Love Aaj Kal. Whilst security was extra tight on the day to prevent outsiders entering the premises, a DJ was hired for the music and club lights were also used to make the scene look as real as possible.

First Look

Earlier, it was reported that the theatrical trailer of the film would be attached to the prints of Khan's previous home production, Agent Vinod, although the makers decided against this for unknown reasons. The official trailer was eventually launched on 21 May 2012, to a phenomenal response from critics and audiences, crossing 1 million hits on Youtube within 3 days.

Soundtrack

The music of Cocktail is composed by Pritam. The makers have bought the rights of a famous Pakistani song "Jugni", which has been revised slightly. Also, Angreji Beat (Punjabi song) sung by Gippy Grewal featuring Yo Yo Honey Singh, originally from Honey Singh's International Villager released in November 2011, will be used in the film. On 24 May, "Tum Hi Bandhu" was released, sung by Neeraj Shridhar and Kavita Seth. On 31 May, another song "Daaru Desi" was released, sung by Benny Dayal and Shalmali Kholgade.