Locations in Europe: London (UK)
Storyline
Star(s): Deepika Padukone, Saif Ali Khan, Diana Penty, Dimple Kapadia, Boman Irani, and Randeep Hooda
Songs/Dance: Songs for the film were shot in different locations in London and South Africa.
Indian/ International Crew: A 32-member crew was hired from London.
Language: Hindi
Line Producer/Location Manager: Chris Martin (Local Line Producer in London) Christopher White (Location Manager)
Director/Producer: Homi Adajania (Director), Saif Ali Khan and Dinesh Vijan (Producer), Illuminati Films (Production Company)
Film Location Analysis
By Shikha Jhingan
The film’s opening shots of London give us an aerial view from a drone camera and then move to show iconic sites like the Trafalgar Square. A sonic bridge created with children’s voices takes us to Hyde Park where Boman Irani and Saif Ali Khan are having a brunch at a restaurant next to the water body.
The film has been shot extensively in several locations in London that include Borough High Street, Borough market, Portobello Road, Leicester Square, Piccadilly Circus, Mayfair, Clapham Junction, Battersea Park, Bank Station, St. Pauls London, Colville Gardens (Notting Hill Gate), and Brick Lane. The exterior shots leading to Veronica’s apartment have been shot at Coville Gardens. The song ‘Main Sharabi’ was shot at Clapham Grand Night Club. Other locations are Edgar Wallace Pub, Trinity Bar, and Tas Firin (Turkish Restaurant), where Gautam is shown drinking with Boman Irani and his office colleagues.
The city of London is a major character in the film, and we see different ways in which the city has been captured in relation to the three characters on their own in the beginning, moving to a different spatial geography as their lives start crisscrossing with each other. The film also uses quick cuts of the London bus as a transition from one sequence to the other. The spaces explored in the city are harnessed to give a sense of a ‘lived in’ space, an embodied experience of the city rather than a touristic gaze. In many ways Cocktail can be described as a mood film in which the locations play an important role in bringing out the interiority of characters.
In the opening section of the film all three protagonists are shown in three distinct locations of London thus making space integral to their characterisation. Gautam is shown at Hyde Park with his uncle’s family but is clearly interested in flirting with women at this place. The noise and the buzzing sound of the place enhances his restlessness.
Meera is shown lost at Heathrow airport and then making way to a police station and the underbelly of the city. Veronica, the third character, comes next—getting ready for a night of revelry. It is through her mobile and sensate body that we are now given a tour of the city of London in a psychedelic vision that is accentuated by mobility, speeds, and colour transformations. ‘Marjani Pandi Bhangra,’ a track by Gippy Grewal and YoYo Honey Singh sets the pace for the rhythmic track that shows Veronica dancing and getting high on drugs and alcohol. A drunk Veronica enters a washroom of a fast-food joint where she meets Meera, and finding out about her situation, brings her home. The next sequence shows Meera stepping out in London to look for a job. The first shot frames only the feet and legs of people walking on the street with a pigeon in the centre of the frame, evoking Meera’s downward gaze. A sign of diversion on the road in the next shot, followed by Meera’s attempt in getting into the tube further point towards the grittiness of the city for a newcomer.
A lot of sequences in Cocktail show London’s unpredictable weather, with people walking with their umbrellas in the rain. Gautam Kapoor’s casual attitude towards the rain is shown when we see him walking with an office bag to shield himself.
Portebello road market becomes a site for Meera to explore the city and bring flowers for the apartment. The film casually uses signages of some locations in orienting us to its spatial geographies. The song ‘Daru Desi’, described as a ‘friendship montage’ by Adajania, shows the three characters having fun together at the Borough Market, city parks, Downing Street, Trafalgar Square, and other iconic sites on the Jubilee walkway.
The mood of the city changes after the three friends return from South Africa as Gautam confesses to Veronica that he and Meera have fallen in love with each other. Both the interiors of the apartment and the city acquire a darker hue as a song plays in the background.
Gautam is seen wandering around the city, sleeping on benches and searching for Meera, while Veronica starts drinking heavily and consuming drugs after hitting dance clubs. After Meera admonishes Gautam for his irresponsible behaviour, Gautam returns to Veronica’s apartment at night. A drunk Veronica has just returned from a night of revelry and gets hit by a car.
As Veronica recovers from her accident with Gautam’s help, we see Meera in a state of despair near water bodies or walking in a daze. The city seems to slow down and keeps the three characters apart. In one sequence, Gautam follows Meera from the tube station to her apartment in the Brick Lane area, which she is now sharing with her husband. The road signs showing traffic diversions, barricades, noise indicate this to be a ‘other’ side of the city inhabited by immigrants and the working class.
Finally, when Veronica and Gautam decide to look for Meera, we see the cityscape changing from its upper end areas with wider roads and tree -lined skyline to narrower busier roads till they reach Brick Lane.
Additional Information & Links
The mahurat and puja for the film was performed at Hyde Park.
While the exterior shots of the film were shot in London, the shots of Veronica’s apartments were filmed in a set in Ramoji Rao studios in Hyderabad.
The production designer visited several London apartments and took photographs as references to create a set that would go with the personality of Veronica. The interiors were shot with plates that were later replaced with exterior shots as the vista that surrounds the apartment.
Tourism
The production team decided to choose London as a location for the film because the city of London gives a lot of discounts as incentives for the shooting of Bollywood films. For this, the film must pass a culture test which is a set of requirements that the production company has to meet.
Secondly, Dinesh Vijan had already shot Love Aaj Kal with Saif in London and had found the city suitable for shooting of outdoor locations.
