Cocktail music review

4 / 5

Movie: Cocktail

Cast: Saif Ali Khan, Deepika Padukone and Diana Penty

Music Composer: Pritam

Director: Homi Adajania

Producer: Saif Ali Khan

Saif is back to doing a light entertainer after ‘Love Aaj Kal’. For ‘Cocktail’, he joins hands with the people who complemented him in ‘Love Aaj Kal’, Imtiaz Ali, Deepika Padukone and composer Pritam. This Illuminati Films’ presentation hits the screens on July 13^th. On to the music review now.

Tumhi Ho Bandhu … THUMBS UP

Kavita Seth & Neeraj Shridhar

A rocking number to kick start the album.  There is a slight touch of pathos in Kavita Seth’s voice which absolutely complements Neeraj Shridhar’s ‘Tumhi Ho Bandhu’ refrain. The beats are racy and it is sure to rock the dance floors in the country. Pritam is becoming an expert at such pacy numbers. The trailer has already made this song hugely popular. No wonder

Daaru Desi

Shalmali Kholgade & Benny Dayal

This song has a classy guitar presence and moves at a pretty fast pace. Very relaxing number with the 2 singers perfectly complementing each other. The female singer’s voice (of ‘Pareshaan’ from ‘Ishaqzaade’ fame) in particular is sexy. The musical arrangements are also trendy.

Yaariyan … THUMBS UP

Mohan Kanan & Shilpa Rao

This is a beautiful soft rock number with soulful vocals by Mohan Kanan. A totally poignant number that is high on feeling. Mohan shifts pitches very easily. This is one song where the vocals are a bit Hindustani while the arrangement of the song is totally western. A superb attempt at fusion with Shilpa Rao making a nice little contribution as well. The ending is terrific as well.

There is a reprise of the same song which is mellow and mushy with the piano taking over. Sunidhi Chauhan and Arijit Singh do the honors. Sunidhi’s versatility comes to the fore yet again. Arijit sounds like A.R.Rahman at parts and his range is wonderful. This one is a winner as well.

Second Hand Jawaani

Miss Pooja, Neha Kakkar & Nakkash Aziz

This one sticks out from the rest of the songs in that it is totally desi and local. An item number with a tune that will appeal to the snakes. Like other item numbers, this will make you groove and shake your head. But the tune is nothing great.

Tera Naam Japdi Phiran … THUMBS UP

Javed Bashir, Nikhil D'Souza & Shefali Alvaris

This is a beautiful fusion between soulful Punjabi and ‘Aqua’ style bubblegum pop. Tastefully done, upmarket and experimental.

There is a version 2 of the same song which has been made for the dance floors. This one sounds better than other remixes going around. Guess the fusion is just too good that even a remix can’t take the sheen away from it.

Luttna (Saif Ul Malook) … THUMBS UP

Masuma Anwar, Anupam Amod & Sahir Ali Bagga

This is yet another delightful number which is highly indigenous. One of Pritam’s best efforts. The sound effects in this song are random, heavy and psychedelic. There is a small ‘sufi’ touch as well to this song. All said, it is the vocals that do the trick. It is pretty uplifting. 

There is a version 2 for this song as well. The instrumentals for this one are much sober and pleasant with a slight rock touch. The vocals are terrific yet again.

Jugni ... THUMBS UP

Arif Lohar and Harshdeep Kaur

This song featured in Coke Studio Pakistan and is basically a Punjabi folk song. Pritam has reused it. It is addictive, foot tapping and will give you a high. Such is the passionate nature of the song. Both the singers are ‘A-Rate’. What a finish to the album

VERDICT: A smashing album from Pritam. After ‘Love Aaj Kal’, the Saif - Pritam combo has come up with another album that will rock the charts for some time to come. Scores high on variety and innovation. 

Agent Vinod movie review

Saif Ali Khan returns to action after ‘Aarakshan’ and he is backed by his beau & current box-office queen Kareena Kapoor and director Sriram Raghavan (of ‘Johnny Gaddar’ fame).  There is a solid technical team comprising music director Pritam and DOP C.K. Muraleedharan. This offering by Eros and Illuminati Films hit the screens today amid decent expectations and hype. Has it lived up to it? Yes. It has, to a good extent.

The basic thread of the movie is an Indian RAW agent Vinod Khanna taking on a wide plethora of villains to prevent a nuclear device from detonating in the capital of our country. The culprits are not the obvious ones and there are some big fishes playing in these murky waters of terrorism.

This basic storyline has been treated on a very grand scale. There is widespread travel in the movie starting from Afghanistan -> Russia ->Germany ->Morocco ->Pakistan ->Somalia and finally back to India and ending in South Africa. I might have missed a few places. Such is the scale of the film.

Saif Ali Khan has really excelled in stunts. He is very agile and his beefed-up, rugged avatar makes him a perfect suit for this action packed role. A feather in his cap for sure. His histrionics in the end credits song are admirable.

Kareena is grim for most of the movie but scorches the screen in the mujra number along with Maryam Zakaria. We really don’t know whom to see in this number. Kareena’s return to her curvy best literally sets the screen on fire. She carries off her glamorous clothes with style and she also has a decent and crucial role in the state of affairs. Her acting credentials aren’t put to much test. But, she is definitely a trump card for the movie.

The villains in the movie are pretty weak except the Colonel who puts up some good obstacles in the Agent’s path. Ram Kapoor and Prem Chopra are the villains in the Russian and Moroccan leg of the movie. They are more funny than fearsome.

The songs have been used to take the movie forward and do not hamper the flow of the movie. The BG score is pretty pulsating and ‘The Good The Bad The Ugly’ seems to have inspired the director as is evident from the title card. The ‘trippy’ opening credits have a heavy Guy Ritchie feel to them. The editing pattern at places is very interesting.

The movie has a pretty laborious pace at places but, on the whole it is a decent watch for sure. The grand production values, the heavy duty action scenes, the almost blemish-less VFX work (except for the helicopter shots in the climax) and the grand scale of the movie make ‘Agent Vinod’ a watch-worthy affair, this weekend at the cinemas. While coming out, you might even feel like checking it out for a second time.

The movie ends with the premise for a sequel and it should be exciting given the decent showing of this outing. ‘Agent Vinod’ is directed primarily at the city slickers and the ‘action’ minded. Single screen audiences don’t have much in this for them except the ‘mujra’ number. This is not to suggest the movie won’t make big numbers.  A solid run over the next few weeks can be safely predicted, at least in the major release centers.

The amateurish feel at certain places does creep in thanks to some clichés associated with Indian cinema, particularly in the first half. But, it can be excused for sure.

VERDICT: A visually appealing effort from Saif Ali Khan and team. Worth a watch for the effort.