And while audiences may be expecting another breezy love triangle populated by beautiful people making complicated choices, Rashmika hints that her character Diya may be far more layered than she initially appears.If Bollywood has a resident green flag, Rashmika would surely be a strong contender. She has built a reputation as the approachable, cheerful actress who seems almost incapable of malice.Her mother, she jokes, occasionally worries that she's too trusting for the real world.“Personally, my mom is a little worried about me as to how will I survive in this world being the way I am.”Diya, however, appears to have received a different instruction manual.“Diya, on the other hand, is not very vanilla.”It's a line she delivers with a smile, but it reveals plenty.“She's got a little tricks and whatever traits of her own.”In fact, there were moments during filming when Rashmika found herself completely baffled by Diya's behaviour.“So many things that I would just question Homi, saying, ‘But why would someone do something like this? Why is there anyone who has ever done something like this?’”Without giving away spoilers, she suggests that viewers will eventually understand why she struggled to make sense of some of Diya's choices.The role demanded something unusual from her: complete surrender.“For me to have sort of completely surrendered to Homi, saying, ‘Okay boss, you're the boss here, you're the captain of the ship. Just take care of me. I'm just going to dive in.’”Perhaps that's also why she isn't particularly concerned about audiences judging her character.Quite the opposite.“I think people should be allowed to judge the character. Otherwise, what is the conversation around the film?”It's a fascinating response, especially considering the discourse that surrounded the original Cocktail. For years, viewers have passionately dissected Veronica's choices, Meera's decisions and Gautam's emotional maturity.The debates never really stopped.Rashmika believes flawed characters are exactly what make stories memorable.“If you're doing all positive and good stuff, then there's no masala in it. There's no spice in it.”And today's audiences, she believes, are far more willing to embrace those shades of grey.“We have flawed characters being appreciated today, or the grey shades being appreciated today, because it's complex.”That's perhaps what makes Cocktail such an enduring conversation starter in the first place. Nobody was entirely right. Nobody was entirely wrong. The characters felt frustratingly human.Rashmika seems convinced Cocktail 2 will continue that tradition.“You know this person is not such, but this person is playing such character, which makes it all the way more interesting and fun.”While relationship dramas and emotional entanglements remain at the heart of the film, Rashmika also believes Cocktail 2 arrives at exactly the right moment.The world, she says, feels heavy.“There's so much happening around the world and honestly there's a lot of frustration out there.”The actress herself has been immersed in intense projects in recent years, balancing action spectacles, emotionally demanding dramas and larger-than-life commercial entertainers.“I'm also doing films where I'm beating up people and I'm getting beaten up and stuff like that myself,” she says.That's partly why returning to a lighter, feel-good space felt refreshing.“For me personally, a summertime film was important as well because of just what intense films that I'm doing.”The irony is that Rashmika experiences her own films almost like the rest of us. She rarely watches playback on set.“When a shot is taken, I don't have the habit of watching my take. I give it to the director.”Instead, she waits to see what emerges.“I'm also the first audience for my own film.” Manjusha Radhakrishnan has been slaying entertainment news and celebrity interviews in Dubai for 18 years—and she’s just getting started. As Entertainment Editor, she covers Bollywood movie reviews, Hollywood scoops, Pakistani dramas, and world cinema.