PremiumKatrina Kaif and Vijay Sethupathi's Merry Christmas is a symphony of love in the heart of Bombay
From broken hearts to unspoken love, Sriram Raghavan's suspense thriller is a Christmas miracle we aspire for!
Last Updated: 01.36 PM, Jan 13, 2024
In one of the scenes in Merry Christmas, Maria (Katrina Kaif) and Albert (Vijay Sethupathi) talk about their love stories, where one began seven years ago and the other ended more or less around the same time. While concluding what they heard about each other, Maria tells Albert, "Hum jisse pyaar karte hai woh mar jaye, ya hamare liye uska pyaar mar jaye; marte toh hum hi hai na," which loosely translates as "When the one we love either dies or their love for us dies, it is we who end up suffering." This sets the tone that Merry Christmas is a love story of two broken hearts.
In the film, Albert comes back to his home on the eve of Christmas after being away for a number of years. He is experiencing grief and adjusting to the loss of his mother, and he decides to go out and participate in the Christmas Eve celebrations that are taking place in the city. There, he comes face-to-face with Maria, a stunning and fascinating woman, and her young daughter, who is mute. In the course of the night, Albert and Maria engage in a series of long walks and chats, which result in an unexpected but obvious attraction between them. Maria's relationship with Albert is beyond anything she could have hoped for. In addition, Maria is nothing short of a Christmas miracle for Albert. However, things quickly take a dark turn, and what was supposed to be a romantic evening turns out to be a nightmare.
Set against the backdrop of Christmas Eve in Bombay (set in the 1990s), the story brings back the old-world charm of the city. The whole set-up romanticises the city so beautifully that even when "the night is darkest just before dawn," it leaves us with hope for another beautiful day.
Finding love in Bombay by just stealing glances from each other is a believable scenario that has been witnessed on screen for many years. The accidental love story can be finding comfort in the dashing waves at the Arabian Sea, like seen in Wake Up Sid, the night Aisha (Konkona Sensharma) reaches Mumbai and meets Siddharth (Ranbir Kapoor), and eventually living together and realising what makes this city even more special for them. Or even when Raju (Shah Rukh Khan) comes to Bombay from Darjeeling in Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman and has his first fight with Renu (Juhi Chawla), only for them to understand later that they are the ones who can help each other in this hustle and bustle.
Hope amid the darkness
The hope in this film is a love story that begins unexpectedly and transpires on a very surprising note. Every moment when the suspense builds up in the film, there are also moments where Maria and Albert keep on falling hard for each other. When she first calls him at her home and tells him that she has never welcomed a stranger at her house, you believe her and also believe that it's a new beginning, which the film is primarily focusing on.
However, if the name given to Vijay's character is Albert, Sriram Raghavan playfully did it, probably because it has some sort of connection with the word "alibi"? Or it's just in my head! The filmmaker prompts the audience to discern the hidden meaning within each moment of silence and the spoken words that permeate the film.
In case you didn't notice, it's tough to write about this film WITHOUT MENTIONING SPOILERS, so I apologise in advance if you haven't watched the film, which you should soon!
Love at first "alibi"
It's love at first "alibi," with a hidden agenda, which is the true reason why they met. But it's the slow narrative that also helps us seep into the story, allowing us to believe in some way that this is not an impossible love story. They break the tension between each other by breaking into dance while gulping down drinks and also exploring the city just before the clock strikes midnight, and they look as magical as ever. At midnight, when it seems like the love story has reached its end even before it actually began, you see that two people who are strangers to each other are going to another level to protect each other, believing that it has become an unsaid rule between them.
Despite knowing their past and even the present, Maria and Albert share a laugh and a hug during distress, finding solace in each other. But what takes the cake is the final scene, which is stupendous and something you might not have seen in such a long time.
The magic of Sriram Raghavan
My god! It's the climax that makes your heart full, and even if there are flaws, that sequence will make you forgive everything. The build-up, the trust between the two leads, and also the final breaking down with the cat being out of the bag—every moment takes your attention. But it's the tears and smiles between Maria and Albert that make you believe; love has stayed between them, and will the relationship continue? That is up to us to believe or not.
Merry Christmas is a suspense thriller, but it's a love story first, which Sriram Raghavan created with co-writers Arijit Biswas, Pooja Ladha Surti, and Anukriti Pandey. When the curiousity of where the story is taking us begins, it also wants us to believe that no matter what, let them have their happy ending.