If Homi Adajania’s Cocktail (2012) — where playboy Archie chooses homely Betty over bohemian Veronica — was spiritually a Luv Ranjan movie, this spiritual sequel is actually one. Written by Ranjan and Tarun Jain, Cocktail 2 is somehow backward even in its forwardness. This time, cool chef Archie (Shahid Kapoor, as Kunal) is in a stable live-in relationship with college sweetheart Betty (Rashmika Mandanna, as Diya) in Gurgaon, until saucy Veronica (Kriti Sanon, as Ally) gatecrashes their obscenely expensive and digitally sun-kissed Sicily vacation. Modernity is treated as an illness in such movies. Cocktail 2 thinks it’s reversing the sexism and gender roles of the two-men-fighting-for-one-woman template, but it’s really just reboxing the handsome meninism of hits like Tu Jhoothi Main Makkaar, Pyaar Ka Punchnama and Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety. Here it’s one man, two women and countless facepalms.
Poor Kunal’s feelings are toyed with, despite being the Good Guy and Faithful Boyfriend. Diya doubts his nature because he is reluctant to get married. So what does she do? The tradwife-coded Diya convinces her pal Ally — who by the way lives in Sicily like a free spirit (an AI retelling of Katrina Kaif’s character from Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara) — to seduce Kunal and see if he fails the test. Ally takes up the challenge, Diya ditches plans so that the other two can be together, Kunal becomes tasty prey, and naturally, Ally grows real emotions for him along the way. The second half unfolds in Gurgaon, because what is a woke rom-com without a contest to objectify the prize and win them over? The film might have us believe that it is treating Kunal the way hapless heroines are treated in most romcoms: up for grabs. But its contempt for species other than man is evident.
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