In High spirits

With Cocktail having garnered 50-odd crores in the first week, producer-actor Saif Ali Khan is laughing all the way to the bank

What according to you was Cocktail's USP?

There's something very fresh about Cocktail. The film made a lot of sense because of strong themes, like friendship. It's nice to see a movie about friends, especially two girls and one guy. It takes courage to tell this kind of story in which a guy falls in love with his girlfriend's friend. But I knew it's what young girls — the prime target audience of our cinema — would connect to.

How was it playing your character, Gautam?

Gautam is a Delhi-based innocent guy who goes abroad for the first time to work. So, he's a little excited and happy with life. It's his fun-loving and crazy nature that I related to.

After a serious film like Being Cyrus, how did Homi Adajania tackle a romcom like Cocktail?

Actually, at that time I didn't think he could make Being Cyrus either! Homi resembles a good-looking scuba diving instructor. So you think he's probably better off making a documentary for National Geographic about Sperm Whales! He surprised me, as he is conscientious, kind and one of the most hard working directors I've worked with. He's told a story that has been written by Imtiaz with a Western and an old-fashioned Indian set up. Such things don't happen anymore, where a very big star writes a story, and another person comes along and directs it. In the end, you get two different views about the same story, which I think was the most interesting part of Cocktail.

Did you at any time during the making of the film, feel that had Imtiaz directed the film, it would have been any different?

... contd.

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