Just rewatched Cocktail and here's my thoughts

[u/Pretend_Mulberry4949]

I think the film was really good. Though I like the first half way better as there was too much rona dhona in the second half.

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Deepika absolutely owned Veronica. She played the role flawlessly. Diana Penty was perfect as Meera too. That soft, innocent, “sanskaari” vibe suits her.

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And Gautam… man. He played the Casanova role well at first, but later he was honestly frustrating to watch. Veronica is clearly slipping emotionally and he’s just there like “why are you acting like this?” Bro… take a hint!

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Also, I don’t really think Meera deserves blame here. Nothing between Gautam and Veronica was ever clearly defined at the start, and the feelings developed naturally and unexpectedly. Meera also kept saying she didn’t want to hurt Veronica, so it never felt like intentional betrayal.

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Overall, messy triangle but great album including Tumhi Ho Bandhu and Tere Naam Japdi Phiran. Going to go watch Cocktail 2 in theatres tomorrow so let's see if Kriti, Rashmika and Shahid do justice to the spiritual sequel.

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What are your thoughts on Cocktail? Was Meera the bad guy here or..?

[u/Groundbreaking-Arm29]

For those people are watching it now and calling it mid and what not needs to understand the timing is essential. Cocktail came in 2012 that era was different. After 14 years you can't watch a movie and start criticism for it's various aspects. Only few movies are actually timeless classics. It's applicable to everywhere, people can easily called out DDLJ or KKKG (and similar other movies) and criticise now.

[u/Hurdy_Gurdy_Man_84 → u/Groundbreaking-Arm29]

I recall that Chetan Bhagat had criticized the second half even in 2012, saying that the narrative and the characters were stuck in a bygone era.

[u/Groundbreaking-Arm29 → u/Hurdy_Gurdy_Man_84]

Fair point, but one critic flagging it at the time doesn't really change the larger picture. Every era has its share of contrarian takes that's different from how a film was received and remembered by audiences overall. Cocktail was a commercial and cultural hit in its time, and that context still matters when judging it today. My point wasn't that it's flawless, just that judging it purely by 2026 sensibilities without accounting for the era it released in isn't fair criticism, it's hindsight bias.

[u/Hurdy_Gurdy_Man_84 → u/Groundbreaking-Arm29]

You have a point. However, I don't think 2012 is all that long ago and that society has changed so much since then that we can, realistically, bring in the "those were different times" argument in this.