By anjali
Director Sriram Raghavan, known for his dark thrillers in Bollywood, takes a step back from the fast-paced storytelling of Andhadhun and navigates a fine balance between the slow and the urgent, the thought-provoking and the daring, and the sophisticated and the edgy in Merry Christmas. This enigmatic film keeps a tight grip on the audience.
Drawing inspiration from the French short film L’accordeur (The Piano Tuner), the dual-version Merry Christmas, featuring Katrina Kaif and Vijay Sethupathi, offers a loose adaptation of the French crime fiction writer Frederic Dard’s book, Le Monte-charge. The French title of the story translates to ‘dumbwaiter’, and in English, the novel was titled Bird in a Cage. Both a freight elevator and a trapped bird are relevant analogies in the context of Merry Christmas, set in the Christian community of 1980s Bombay.
Review of Merry Christmas
Katrina Kaif and Vijay Sethupathi star in Merry Christmas, directed by Sriram Raghavan, known for his dark thrillers in Bollywood. In this film, Raghavan takes a more measured approach compared to his previous work in Andhadhun, balancing the philosophical and provocative elements with a sense of urgency and sophistication. Merry Christmas is a thought-provoking film that keeps the audience engaged throughout. Inspired by the French short film L’accordeur (The Piano Tuner), the movie presents a loose adaptation of Frederic Dard’s book, Le Monte-charge, set in the Christian community of 1980s Bombay.
The film’s pace is deliberate and captivating, drawing parallels between the movement of a dumbwaiter and the trapped nature of a bird in a cage, both serving as relevant metaphors within the story. The controlled momentum and occasional lack of speed are intentional, adding to the overall anticipation and sense of foreboding. The narrative unfolds with revelations about obsessive love, prompting reflection on the nature of life and the different tastes it leaves behind for each individual.
Packed with stylish, visual, and musical elements that greatly intensify the enigma surrounding a Christmas Eve “romance” between a discontentedly married mother of a wide-eyed little girl (Pari Maheshwari Sharma) and a enigmatic loner who comes back to his Mumbai home after a prolonged absence.
Merry Christmas is both unsettlingly Hitchcockian in its unexpected developments and twists, and reminiscent of Rohmer in its continuous and sharply unsentimental exploration of the moral complexities of love, loyalty, and betrayal.
The script, written by Raghavan, Arijit Biswas, Pooja Ladha Surti (who is also the film’s editor), and Anukriti Pandey, is filled with subtle hints that gain significance as the story progresses within the setting of a woman’s residence located above a family-owned bakery that provides butter biscuits to schools.
Even when the screen is filled with mere conversation, fleeting glances between strangers, or uncomfortable silences in an attempt to bridge the gap between Maria (played by Katrina Kaif) and Albert (played by Vijay Sethupathi), there is still so much for the audience to appreciate and analyze in this film. It never feels forced or overly intentional.
It’s a merry Christmas for the two main characters and for the attentive viewer who gets an intimate look at the events without everything being explicitly explained. Cinematographer Madhu Neelakandan infuses the residential interiors and cityscapes with a touch of magic, creating a sense of both celebration and mystery within the frames he composes.
In one of her most compelling on-screen performances, Katrina Kaif effectively portrays a sense of confusion and vulnerability with occasional glimpses of determination in a remarkably understated manner. She is complemented by Vijay Sethupathi, whose expressive eyes and facial expressions capture the inner turmoil and external chaos with minimal reliance on dialogue.
“Merry Christmas” takes audiences on an imaginative journey, drawing from the sounds and visuals of 1980s Hindi cinema to evoke a feeling of disorientation. The characters, Maria and Albert, carry with them the weight of past experiences as they embark on a two-and-a-half-hour quest for redemption.
Maria and Albert engage in a back-and-forth of questioning. Meanwhile, the screenplay poses thought-provoking questions for the audience – is violence truly preferable to sacrifice? Are self-inflicted wounds more morally acceptable than seeking closure at the expense of the person who caused the pain? Can a chance meeting result in a life-changing secret agreement between two individuals whose paths have never crossed until one fateful evening?
The two main characters exude a blend of calmness and playfulness as they share a drink at Maria’s home and then take a walk, exchanging bits of information to help each other break the ice and to provide some clarity for the audience. However, this clarity is selective – it is intended to serve as a mix of confusion and revelation.
Merry Christmas places strong emphasis on Kaif and Sethupathi, ensuring that even the secondary characters are not overlooked, regardless of their screen time. It’s truly remarkable that even a character with just one almost inaudible line is not relegated to a minor role, but instead represents a crucial turning point in the film.
Starting with Tinnu Anand’s “neighbor uncle” who presents the wayward Albert with homemade wine upon his return, the story progresses through the arrival of a seemingly lifeless Luke Kenny and a charming Sanjay Kapoor as a busy caterer on Christmas Eve – he is a ‘caterer’ not an event manager, as the latter term had not yet entered the urban lexicon. The tale concludes with memorable characters such as Vinay Pathak, Pratima Kannan, and Ashwini Kalsekar, making Merry Christmas a story filled with impactful personalities.
Fascinating, thought-provoking, captivating, and subtly demanding, Merry Christmas embodies all the qualities you desire in a thriller. It captivates even when it perplexes.
(Also Read: Katrina Kaif And Vicky Kaushal Are Pictured Enjoying The Sunset Together During Their New Year 2024 Holiday)
