Star Interview

Q : Before the trailer of Cocktail came out about two months ago, hardly anyone knew about the film as there was no poster 

and it was not being talked about much. Was that a pre-planned strategy to create maximum buzz in just the last 

two months before the release of the film? 

A :I think, they (the marketing team) said that they wanted to promote the film on the internet and create as much 

hype as possible in the last two months. It was a bit of a plan. But I think, also forced by necessity to a point.

 

Q : Do you think because Agent Vinod just released in March and you perhaps did not want to confuse the audience?

A : I don’t know. The film just got ready around now. We wanted to not talk about it too early because we learnt 

a few lessons from Agent Vinod. Everyone knew that the film is coming out, that it is getting delayed and all these 

kind of things. With Cocktail we made a rule that we should first finish making the film and then start publicising. 

We finished filming two to three months before we release. So, now we have started. 

 

Q :Were you surprised that the trailer and every song promo reached over a million views on YouTube within a few days 

as it does not happen with every Hindi film? 

A ; Yes, it does not happen with every film. I was happy that it was our turn to be one of those films because it has 

happened with other films. I guess what you learn from that is that certain films capture the imagination of the audience. 

You don’t really know why. So, you keep trying and making different kind of movies. Some will work and some won’t 

but I don’t think you should take either result too seriously. The idea is to just keep trying different stuff. 

 

Q : Dinesh Vijan wanted to solo produce Cocktail with Deepika Padukone and Imran as leading actors 

A : That is right. 

 

Q : Tell me a little bit about your character Gautam. He seems a bit confused and I remember you told me once that you 

don’t want to play the confusing lover anymore. 

A : He is not confused. He is a little innocent. He is not naïve but he thinks life is quite simple, black and white. 

A lot of the crisis in the film comes about because of his misguided honesty. He thinks it is okay to tell somebody that 

this is how I feel. He does not understand that life can be a bit more complicated. But he grows in the movie into 

someone capable of sacrificing things. What is good about this script is that all three people do something that is very 

difficult for them to do in order to make someone else happy. As friends they start off somewhere but where they finish 

is in a situation where they all done something for someone which is phenomenal for somebody else, which they would never 

have done in the beginning of the movie. They are not made like that but become like that eventually. So there is that 

personal journey and also the theme of friendship and loyalty and then there is the love story which kind of screws 

everything for everyone. I think, it’s something everyone will connect to. 

 

Q : You extensively shot the film in London. How was it like shooting here?  

A : It was really nice and it has given the film a great amount of scale and it looks wonderful. 

 

Q: While shooting in Delhi, pictures of the climax sequences were published by newspapers which somehow gave away 

how the film will end. Did that annoy you? 

A : Press in India can be quite funny sometimes. They made end climax scene look like Deepika and me are just saying 

Hello to each other quite warmly on set which is a bit naughty because it’s a shot from the movie. They made it look 

like ‘Saif sees Deepika after a long time’. I guess you are bending the truth to try and add spice to your newspaper. 

As a result, it should not be taken too seriously. 

 

Q ; Talking about the music, two popular songs by Yo Yo Honey Singh, Main Sharabi and Angreeji Beat did not make 

it to the album. Why was that? 

A : They must have been recorded late. They will be on the new CD. 

 

Q : What are your expectations from the UK audience for Cocktail? 

A : Now, my expectations are quite high up there. I want it to be really good because I think people have really 

liked the promos and the film is quite hot in terms of marketing.