When Homi told Deepika to forget the pretty face

After debuting as a director with Being Cyrus in 2006, filmmaker Homi Adajania (right) was just a film old when he decided to make Cocktail in 2012. The film completes five years today and the filmmaker says that he found the story line “quite regressive” at that time. “But, when the realisation dawned on me that I was unfamiliar on how to do it (the usage of songs in a visual narrative), I decided to go for it. Within the framework of the original story, I decided to make every scene my own,” says Homi. Starring actors Saif Ali Khan, Deepika Padukone (right) in the lead, the film marked Diana Penty’s debut in Bollywood. The filmmaker says that when he started working on the film, he knew that Deepika’s performance would be applauded. Homi, in fact had written a letter to Deepika stating this on the last day of the shoot. “Deepika came with a bunch of not-so-successful films behind her. So she was hungry to break the mould. At our first meeting, I told her, ‘Let’s forget your pretty face…i want people to leave the theatre knowing that you are a reliable actor,’” says Homi, admitting that he was partial to Deepika because making her Veronica — a free-spirited party girl — was his biggest challenge. He says, “She was my favourite character in the film.” As for Diana, who played the role of a shy traditional girl, Meera, Homi shares that they confirmed her after the second round of audition. “We share a similar sensibility, so it wasn’t difficult to direct her,” says Homi informing that after Diana was finalised for the role, an established Bollywood actor had showed interest to play the role. into a random fist fight.

3. Deepika partied all night and at sunrise drove straight for a Great White Shark dive.

4. There’s a video floating around where I’m doing Diana’s dance in the song Tumi Ho Bandu, dress et al.

5. Imran Khan was initially roped in for Saif’s role, but he wasn’t sure that he wanted to do the film, and Saif thankfully jumped on board.