Merry Christmas review: Sriram Raghavan’s film is all about the journey

An adaptation of French crime writer Frederic Dard’s 1961 novel Bird In A Cage, Merry Christmas is a classic Sriram Raghavan neo-noir thriller. At the outset, he dedicates it to Shakti Samanta, the celebrated director of several Hindi blockbusters in the 1960s-70s such as Kashmir Ki Kali, An Evening in Paris, Aradhana, Kati Patang, and Amar Prem. As he slowly, carefully sets up the world and its key players, Raghavan doles out hordes of pop-culture references, one after the other, teasing you, asking you to pick up the cues, unravel the mystery before he finally does.

He garnishes his tale with clever motifs and irony. In a story where everyone is either lying or concealing the truth, he makes Albert and Maria watch Pinocchio in a theatre, a film on a wooden puppet whose nose grows each time he lies. Then there’s the running motif of birds. Albert keeps making and leaving origami swans everywhere he goes. They turn into a crucial plot point. So does a tiny caged bird—a decorative Christmas tree accessory that he buys in the first few minutes of the film. Finally, there’s a giant teddy bear that Maria’s daughter keeps lugging around with her everywhere. Almost as big as her, to me, it represented her and Maria’s heavy, horrid past, a burden too difficult for them to carry on their own, a burden that Albert offers to share. As the film approaches the climax, we find out there are two of them, signifying the duality in both Maria's and Albert’s personalities. Finally, when one burns in the furnace, we know Maria has got rid of her woes for good.

It is one of the best acting parts that Kaif has been offered in years. She sinks her teeth gleefully into the opportunity. Raghavan along with co-writers Arijit Biswas, Pooja Ladha Surti, and Anukriti Pandey play on Kaif’s strengths. They write Maria’s allure, her opacity into the role, propelling Kaif, aiding her performance. However, sincere as she is, she nonetheless leaves a lot to be desired. For instance, even when she stops pretending, it continues to feel like she’s still play-acting. I doubted her devotion to her daughter until the last minute, thinking there may be still a few surprises up Raghavan’s sleeve. I wonder what someone like Tabu would have done with the role.

Sethupathi is having a ball of a time in the Hindi cine space. First Farzi, then Jawan, and now Merry Christmas. However, his Albert is neither a cop nor a villain. A jaded loner, he’s just unlucky in love, much like Maria. What the Tamil audiences have always known, the Hindi cinephiles are now discovering. The quiet magic and assured charm of Sethupathi’s silences, smiles, and everything in between. He holds together Merry Christmas, especially when it begins to feel too long, too indulgent, and tests your patience.

Watch out for the wonderful cameos by Sanjay Kapoor, Radhika Apte, and Ashwini Kalsekar. Daniel B George’s background score is exquisite as you’d expect of a Sriram Raghavan film. Cinematographer Madhu Neelakandan makes South Bombay look dreamy and full of delicious possibilities. However, after Andhadhun’s roaring success, I was hoping Raghavan would team up with Amit Trivedi again. But Merry Christmas has songs by Pritam. Though not as memorable as the ones in the Ayushmann Khurrana thriller, they do help in creating the right mood and taking the story forward.

Raghavan’s signature brilliance shines in bits and pieces throughout the film. I especially like the scene in which Albert and Maria let loose and dance as though it was their last day living. Awkward at first, it’s so full of heart that it’s heartbreaking. I also found the climactic sequence moving. No one says anything and yet nothing is left unsaid. And I like how, in the garb of a crime thriller, Merry Christmas is essentially a love story. But the big reveal, when it finally does arrive, doesn’t do justice to all the elaborate build-up.

Merry Christmas is thematically eerily similar to Jaane Jaan, another murder mystery adapted from an international novel—Japanese writer Keigo Higashino’s The Devotion of Suspect X. However, it is nowhere near as spooky or thrilling. It is one of those films in which the destination is so underwhelming that you try to look for meaning and joy in the journey.