Kriti Sanon Emerges As Cocktail 2's Biggest Winner Amid Mixed Reviews

Cocktail 2 released in theatres today, and while the film itself has drawn a divided audience response, one verdict is nearly unanimous: Kriti Sanon is its biggest winner. Trade analyst Taran Adarsh, among the first critics to weigh in, called hers the film's "finest performance" — a phrase that has since circulated widely on social media and reignited conversation about her standing in contemporary Bollywood.

Early reviews on social media described Kriti Sanon as arriving "with a BANG" and literally putting life into Cocktail 2. For an actress whose career has oscillated between mainstream blockbusters and quieter critical successes, opening-day notices of this kind carry genuine weight. 

What Critics Are Saying About Sanon

Taran Adarsh's review, shared on his official X account ahead of the film's release, singled out Sanon's work as the performance of the film — above both her co-leads. He described it as her finest screen turn to date, praising her screen presence, emotional range, and the ease with which she commands the frame.

Multiple audience reviewers on social media echoed the sentiment, calling it one of her finest performances and lauding her for her screen presence, glamour, and overall performance.

Several viewers went further, describing Cocktail 2 outright as the "Kriti Sanon show." In a film carrying three equally billed leads, that is a notable distinction. 

The Role: Who Is Ally?

In Cocktail 2, Kriti Sanon plays Ally, a college friend of the female lead Diya (Rashmika Mandanna), who re-enters the lives of Diya and her decade-long partner Kunal (Shahid Kapoor), creating complications in their relationship.

It is precisely the kind of role — the interloper in a love triangle — that requires an actress to be simultaneously sympathetic and disruptive. By most early accounts, Sanon threads that needle. Director Homi Adajania, who also directed the 2012 original, is credited for keeping the film's emotional core intact even as the narrative takes unexpected turns.

A Career in Context

Sanon earned critical praise for her roles in 2024, following a difficult stretch between 2022 and 2023 that included big-budget productions in which critics dismissed her roles as ornamental. She also received recognition for her work in the romantic drama Tere Ishk Mein, which performed well commercially.

Cocktail 2 now arrives as what many are positioning as the culmination of that upward curve. The role of Ally — visually arresting, emotionally layered, and narratively central — appears to have given Sanon the platform that some of her recent films did not.

The Broader Reception

Audience response to the film overall has been mixed, with some early viewers describing the first half as "all gloss, no substance" and flagging a dull screenplay. However, even critics of the film have largely exempted Sanon from those reservations.

The film opened alongside several other releases, including Samantha Ruth Prabhu's Maa Inti Bangaaram, Toy Story 5, and Korean thriller Colony. Full box-office numbers for Day 1 are expected by Friday evening, and the trajectory of the weekend will depend heavily on word-of-mouth from audiences who see Sanon's performance as its primary draw.