The film was officially announced in December 2021. Principal photography commenced the same month in Mumbai along with a sporadic schedule in Uttar Pradesh, which was again followed with a schedule in the former location, and wrapped by mid-January 2023. The film has music composed by Pritam, cinematography handled by Madhu Neelakandan and editing by Pooja Ladha Surti.
After several postponements, Merry Christmas was released in theaters on 12 January 2024. The film received positive reviews, with the performances of Kaif and Sethupathi receiving praise.
Plot
In 1980s Bombay, Albert Arogyasami returns home after seven years on Christmas Eve. He goes to a restaurant, where he bumps into a man who seems to be running away from his date. Later, Albert meets the man's date, Maria, and informs her about the situation. Maria is with her mute daughter, Annie, who seems to be the reason the man ran away. Albert introduces himself to Annie as Santa and gives her a Christmas gift. They spend some time together, and Maria invites Albert to celebrate Christmas at her house, to which he agrees.
At Maria's house, she puts Annie to bed and spends time with Albert. They dance together and share some wine. Albert leaves a gift under the Christmas tree in her house. Maria then invites Albert to go out for more fun, and they explore the city, forming a bond between them.
A few hours later, Maria and Albert return to her house, only to find a dead body on the floor. Maria identifies the body as her husband, Jerome. The body appears to have been shot in the head, with the gun still in his hand. A suicide note is found beside him. Maria tries to call the police, but Albert stops her. He confesses that he had just been released from prison that day after serving a seven-year sentence for murder. He warns that his presence will make the situation worse, as the police will likely suspect that he and Maria conspired to kill Jerome. Albert leaves, telling Maria to handle the situation alone. Before leaving, he attempts to retrieve the gift he placed under the tree to erase evidence of his presence, but he cannot find it.
Albert doesn’t go home immediately. Instead, he stops at a tea stall nearby. To his surprise, he sees Maria, who should be waiting for the police at her house, rushing off somewhere. He follows her to a church, where Maria is praying. Maria sees Albert and tells him to leave, but Albert refuses, insisting on finding out what is happening. Maria pretends not to know Albert in front of others at the church.
Maria fakes fainting, prompting the church’s Father Ronnie, a womanizer attracted to Maria, to offer help. He intends to have an affair with her by assisting her. Albert, still determined to uncover the truth, also offers help. Together, Ronnie and Albert take Maria back to her house, where Albert is shocked to find that Jerome's dead body and all evidence of the crime have disappeared. The house now looks completely normal.
Ronnie intentionally leaves his wallet on Maria's couch, creating an excuse to return later. At this point, Maria claims she left something at the church and needs to retrieve it, so Albert and Ronnie drive her back to the church. After finding her belongings, they return to Maria’s house. Upon entering, the three—especially Albert—are stunned to see Jerome's dead body on the floor again. The scene is identical to what Albert saw a few hours earlier.
Maria calls the police, while Ronnie suggests that Albert stay out of the situation and leaves, hoping to build a relationship with Maria by helping her alone. Albert escapes through a window and climbs down the stairs. While passing the house below, he enters through its open door and is shocked to find that everything inside this house is identical to Maria's house above, except for the dead body. Albert also finds the Christmas tree with his gift and Ronnie’s wallet on the couch. He takes the wallet, planning to return it to Ronnie later.
Albert now realizes what has been happening:
Maria created two identical houses—one above with Jerome's dead body and one below that is clean. Maria first invites guests to the clean house, where nothing appears suspicious. Then she takes the guests out and returns to the house above, where Jerome's dead body is. Since the two houses are only one floor apart, guests don’t notice and think they are in the same house. This creates a perfect alibi for Maria, as the guest can testify that Maria was with them the entire time when Jerome was found dead.
The next day, Albert visits Maria to confront her. He tells her that he has uncovered her plan. Maria confesses that she killed Jerome because he had been abusive to her and their daughter Annie for a long time. Albert sympathizes and reveals that he went to jail for killing his wife under similar circumstances. He offers to help Maria cover her tracks by destroying the clean house.
The police take over the case and begin their investigation. Maria's plan seems to be working, as the police are not suspecting her. Later, Albert goes to the police station to return Ronnie's wallet, as he has no other way to contact him. While there, he overhears a conversation where the police claim that whoever has Ronnie's wallet must be the killer, as the wallet disappeared at the crime scene. Hearing this, Albert changes his mind about handing over the wallet. Just then, he runs into Maria, who is at the station for further questioning.
Maria pretends not to know Albert, understanding that any connection to a convicted murderer could complicate the situation. At this moment, Annie speaks for the first time, revealing that Albert gave her a gift. The police are shocked, realizing there might be a conspiracy involving Maria. In a sudden turn, Albert presents Ronnie’s wallet to the police, taking full responsibility for Jerome’s murder. Albert is arrested, and before being taken away, he proposes to Maria.
In January 2021, it was reported that director Sriram Raghavan had put his directorial venture Ekkis, starring Varun Dhawan, on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic and began working on a new project, which he reportedly approached Hindi actress Katrina Kaif and Saif Ali Khan to play the lead roles.[8] Although Khan okayed the script, he was replaced by Tamil actor Vijay Sethupathi since the film required a fresh pairing.[8][9] The film's launch was reported to be made in April, however, due to the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic and Kaif testing positive for COVID-19, the launch was delayed.[10] On 25 December, the film was officially announced with Ramesh Taurani and Sanjay Routray as producers.[11] The title "Merry Christmas" was suggested by Dinesh Vijan, when the director considered titles containing the word "raat" (night) such as Raat Akeli Hai, Raat Ke Hamsafar and Baat Ek Raat Ki.[12]
Casting
Director Sriram Raghavan initially approached Saif Ali Khan for the role of Albert, since they had worked together in Ek Hasina Thi and Agent Vinod. Khan liked the subject of the movie and accepted the role, but later, the director changed his mind and selected Vijay Sethupathi for the lead role of Albert, thinking that Khan would not be the right fit for the role.[13][14]
Producer Ramesh, while speaking to ETimes, said "Vijay suited the role perfectly so we approached him for this film." and "Katrina was always our only choice for the role right from the beginning."[15] In early March 2022, Sanjay Kapoor was announced to play an important role in the Hindi version of the film.[16] In April, Radhika Sarathkumar was also announced being a part of the cast of the Tamil version.[17]Vinay Pathak was announced as a part of the cast of the Hindi version in August. He was further more said to be playing a key role in the film.[18]Shanmugarajan reprises Vinay Pathak's role in the Tamil version.[19] In July 2023, Ashwini Kalsekar and Radhika Apte were announced to be playing a cameo in the film.[20]
Filming
The principal photography began on 25 December 2021, with the first schedule in Mumbai.[21] The shooting was put on hold in early January 2022, due to rising of COVID-cases.[22] The shooting started again in early February in Filmistan Studio in Mumbai.[23] Sanjay started filming his portions in March.[16] Katrina continued filming her portions on 11 March.[24] The first schedule concluded in March.The second schedule commenced on 19 March in a studio in Chitrakoot. The schedule was said to be 45-days long.[25]
Raadhika Sarathkumar started filming her portions in April.[17] Due to an fire incident in the district in August, the schedule was moved to a studio in Vrindavan.[18] The second schedule finished in November. In the third schedule, which commenced in November in Mumbai, pictures of Katrina, Sethupathi and Kapoor from the sets were released on social media's by paparazzi's.[26] Further more pictures were taken few more days after the former.[27] The principal photography wrapped in January 2023, with an official confirmation on Sethupathi's birthday.[28]
Post-production
Raghavan started the post-production works in mid November 2022, as the filming was in the last schedule.[27] Raghavan, in May 2023, revealed that the film is a bilingual film, meaning that it was simultaneously shot in Hindi and Tamil languages.[19] The film marks Raghavan's and Kaif's debut in Tamil cinema. Each version will reportedly have a different set of co-actors.[29]Deepa Venkat dubbed for Katrina's character in the Tamil version of the film.[citation needed]
The music is composed by Pritam, marking his Tamil debut.[30] The audio rights were acquired by Tips Music.[31] The first single titled "Merry Christmas Title Track" was released on 25 December 2023. The second single titled "Nazar Teri Toofan" was released on 4 January 2024.[32] The third single titled "Raat Akeli Thi" was released on 10 January 2024.[33]
Merry Christmas was initially set to release in cinemas on 23 December 2022, but got delayed due to production delays.[34] Then it was planned for a December 2023 release, before being rescheduled to 12 January 2024.[35]
Home media
The streaming rights were bought by Netflix for ₹60 crore (US$7.2million)[36][4] and premiered on 8 March 2024.[37]
In Film Companion, Rahul Desai described the film as "exceptional and remarkably moving… a sublime deconstruction of the romantic thriller" and highlighted the "self-contained" chemistry between Kaif and Sethupathi. He praised the duo's performances and especially singled out Kaif for giving "a performance within a performance", in which she "nails the ambiguity of a mother disguised as a woman".[39]Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV gave 3.5 stars out of 5 and hailed the film as "a delightfully inventive cinematic ride that employs a very 1980s Hindi cinema soundscape and an evocative and transportive colour palette". He liked the contrast between Kaif and Sethupathi and opined that the former gave "one of most convincing screen performances of her career, portraying confusion and vulnerability cloaked in occasional flashes of steely determination".[1]Shubhra Gupta of The Indian Express gave 3 stars out of 5 and felt that "Despite their unusual pairing, Katrina Kaif and Vijay Sethupathi manage to work together, as she once more demonstrates her acting prowess behind all the pancake and bump-and-grind.[40] Monika Rawal Kukreja of Hindustan Times said that "You won't jump out of this Vijay Sethupathi and Katrina Kaif film when it comes to any major surprise or the conclusion, but you will enjoy excellent cinematography clever writingand an interesting movie that keeps you on the edge of your seat. Even if you only see it once, Sriram Raghavan's cinematic universe is worth watching.[41][42]
Anuj Kumar of The Hindu called the movie "a sumptuous slice of crime" and said, "In this noirish story of a long night, Katrina Kaif and Vijay Sethupathi make a surprising duo that works well together. The story's crux is more interesting than the conclusion."[43]Sukanya Verma of Rediff.com gave 4 stars out of 5 and praised the performance and direction, she wrote "You'll be sighing in Merry Christmas as you've never sighed in a Sriram Raghavan film before thanks to its amazing climax."[44] Lachmi Deb Roy of Firstpost wrote in her review that "The movie is guaranteed to bring back fond memories for everyone who loves Bombay, particularly for those who adore the Regal theatre, Colaba's alleyways, and the ancient, architecturally stunning homes. The leisurely pacing of the film adds to its allure. Undoubtedly, a Merry Christmas is a unique experience."[45] Giving the film 4 stars, Devesh Sharma of Filmfare summarised it as "a dark comedy that will make you smile and scratch your head at the same time... a noir that showcases the triumph of human spirit and compassion". He further praised Sethupathi for delivering "another solid performance" and Kaif for showing "she can stand and deliver... in perhaps, her first full-fledged dramatic role".[46]
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