Lover boy Saif is back

Years ago, audiences fell in love with Saif Ali Khan in his first outing as the metropolitan lover boy in “Dil Chahta Hai”.

In the time that followed, Saif honed this image and got better and better with films like “Hum Tum”, “Salaam Namaste” and “Kal Ho Naa Ho”. His home production “Love Aaj Kal” was not just one of the blockbusters of 2009, it was also widely acclaimed. When Saif plays a lover boy, there’s just no beating him at the game. With his new venture, “Cocktail”, Saif is back as the adaptable lover boy in London. And what’s truly engaging this time is that Saif romances Deepika Padukone and debutante Diana Penty in equal measure. Glimpses in the promos of his character Gautam’s charm have already built a great deal of buzz around the film. Just what about Saif do people love so much?

Says Saif, ” Gautum’s (nickname Guttlu) background is very different. He’s a dilli boy from a traditional, middle-class family. His mother is sitting on his head forcing him to get married. As a person he’s warm, charming, sensitive, funny. I think I’m like that in real life! What do you think? No? On a serious note, Gautam does have a lot of drama in his life, so dealing with it led to some traumatic, emotional scenes, which were quite hard. And fun in equal measure.”

Says producer Dinesh Vijan, “Saif’s the wittiest person I know; always the most entertaining person on set. His family background gives him a suave charm that gets magnified on screen. In “Cocktail”, Saif aka Gautam is a mast-maula character, a Delhi boy with a Delhi accent who flirts but doesn’t objectify women. He has a way with words that makes women feel comfortable. Gautam the lover boy will make you fall in love with Saif all over again.”

Deepika Padukone, who is working with Saif in this genre for the second time after “Love Aaj Kal”, says, “Saif must have these characters somewhere within him, because he just flows in these roles. His ease and natural spontaneous delivery makes it soo easy to respond to him as an actor. I really enjoyed working with him.”
And is Saif a lover boy in real life? He says, “I don’t honestly see myself as a lover boy in real life or otherwise. I think it’s got more to do with these characters not being larger than life; I mean, the guys I play are real, their confusion is real, their issues with women, friendship, love, are all so easy to relate to. We’ve all been in that kind of space at some point in our lives. So, it just comes more easily. And it’s fun to play imperfect characters. There is something loveable, so endearing about not having the answers.”

An excited Sunil Lulla, co-producer, Eros, says, “Saif’s confusion apart, he is always lovable in these kinds of characters. We are really excited about this joint venture with Illuminati Films and the buzz that the film has created within two weeks of its promotions.” Illuminati films and Eros international’s “Cocktail”, directed by Homi Adajania, releases on 13th July.