‘Merry Christmas’ review: An intriguing yarn of love and darkness

Sriram Raghavan’s thriller stars Katrina Kaif and Vijay Sethupathi.

Jan 13, 2024 - 02:30
‘Merry Christmas’ review: An intriguing yarn of love and darkness

Subconsciously reaching for scraps of paper, Albert makes origami swans and other birds. He consciously gifts them to those towards whom he feels affection or casually leaves them around. Albert (Vijay Sethupathi), a man of few words and a secret, returns to his deceased mother’s home in Mumbai on Christmas Eve.

Wandering the city, absorbing the colours, lights and festivities, Albert meets the lovely but melancholy Maria (Katrina Kaif). This chance encounter with Maria and her daughter Annie (Pari Maheshwari Sharma) makes Albert’s Christmas merry, especially when she brings home a stranger for a drink while ruing the absence of her husband Jerome.

A festival soon turns into a menacing, dark and complicated mystery. Director Sriram Raghavan is associated with the delicious world of plot twists and wily characters, last seen in the black comedy thriller Andhadhun (2018). This time, Raghavan and co-writers Pooja Ladha Surti, Arijit Biswas and Anukriti Pandey base the screenplay on Frederic Dard’s French novel Le Monte-Charge.

While the book was set in Paris in the 1960s, Merry Christmas (which has been made in Hindi as well as Tamil) plays out in 1980s Mumbai. A slow build-up of characters and their interactions includes a delightful scene of Maria and Albert dancing. Kaif captures Maria’s fragility and cheerfulness with...

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