Readers Write In #660: Some Notes On MERRY CHRISTMAS

By Vikas Yadav

Sriram Raghavan’s Merry Christmas is based on Frédéric Dard’s novel Le Monte-charge titled Bird in a Cage in English. So, who’s this bird in this film? Is it Maria (Katrina Kaif) who is trapped with an abusive husband in a loveless marriage? Or is it Albert (Vijay Sethupathi) who gets entangled in a murderous web? Of course, we also have a literal bird in a cage as a Christmas tree decoration. Like any Sriram Raghavan film, Merry Christmas keeps you mentally engaged. You can have a lot of fun through overanalysis. For instance, Maria talks about going back in time, and when Albert comes to Maria’s apartment the second time, he doesn’t find the dead body. The rooms look as clean as they were before an apparent suicide. Moreover, Maria repeats the lines she uttered in front of Albert in the presence of Ronnie Fernandes (Sanjay Kapoor). She even puts on the same music. Is Merry Christmas all about time traveling? Are the characters trapped in a time loop? Has Sriram Raghavan made a romance-cum-science fiction?

Well, no. What Raghavan has actually made is a love story in the guise of a mystery thriller. What’s so fascinating, at first, about this romance is how it converts infidelity into a romantic conversation. When Maria talks about how she started dating her boyfriend’s friend, and Albert reveals his involvement with his boss’s wife, you feel as if these two are having a lovey-dovey discussion about, say, how they will pluck the moon from the sky. Sethupathi’s relaxed face seems to be hiding great passion as well as stress. At this point, it’s almost impossible to say whether he is sleepwalking or dedicated. There is a kind of uniformity in Sethupathi’s acting, yet he miraculously never feels dull. Kaif is charming, almost luminous here. Her Maria looks at Albert with such an intense, passionate gaze that it’s no wonder he practically melts in her presence. Her beauty is the key to landing the film’s biggest twist (nothing is what it seems because Pinocchio is playing in the theaters. Meaning: someone or perhaps everyone is lying). Albert is so absorbed in Maria that he doesn’t notice where the lift is going. 

All Albert wants is to impress Maria, and to achieve that goal, he even starts dancing. Raghavan lets the camera roll for a long time, allowing us to soak in the sparkling energy. It’s a beautiful scene. Later, I was surprised when an affectionate song was played over visuals of evidence being destroyed. Despite all this, I never saw any vibrant intensity in Albert and Maria’s chemistry. This, however, is not a complaint. Merry Christmas, after all, is neither an impassioned romance nor a complex murder mystery. Most of its thrills, in the end, are basic. The movie merely delights us with its calculated tricks, and we smile at it. Merry Christmas gives the impression of being someone’s directorial debut. It’s a minor film brimming with promise and a lot of excitement. Remove Raghavan’s name, and you will think that a new, talented filmmaker with potential has arrived in Bollywood. Given what this director has accomplished in his previous movies, Merry Christmas leads you to believe that this might be Raghavan’s way of taking a vacation and relaxing. He tries new things, like a standup comic trying out jokes at a trial show before performing at the main event. This is far from Raghavan’s best movie, but that doesn’t mean it’s not…merry.