Great performances but minus the Raghavan touch Cast: Katrina Kaif, Vijay Sethupati, Radhika Apte, Tinnu Anand, Sanjay Kapoor, Vinay Path...
Great performances but minus the Raghavan touch
Cast: Katrina Kaif, Vijay Sethupati, Radhika Apte, Tinnu Anand, Sanjay Kapoor, Vinay Pathak, Pratima Kazmi
Rating:
3/5
Twenty minutes into the film, you realize that this is an adaptation of Frédéric Dard’s “Bird in a Cage” (which they did not reveal during the opening credits). This ruins the film’s appeal for those who have read the book as the twists don’t work. Having said that the film is no doubt good but the book is superior in so many ways.
On Christmas Eve, Albert returns home after
several years away. Grieving for and adjusting to the loss of his mother, he
steps out seeking cheer in the city’s festivities. He meets the beautiful and
mysterious Maria, and her little daughter who is mute. The night fans into long
walks and conversations, sparking unexpected, yet undeniable, magnetism between
the two. But things soon take a dark turn and an evening of romance turns into
a nightmare.
One leaves the theatre feeling a little underwhelmed. This
is not Raghavan’s weakest film in terms of filmmaking (his weakest has to be
Agent Vinod), but it’s not his strongest either.
The film could have easily done with 10 to 15 minutes of
trimming without affecting the end product and the cinematography could’ve been
better. The lighting was atmospheric and gorgeous to look at: the film did a
good job of capturing the noir aspect of the book with the lighting.
Merry Christmas lacks the style that the filmmaker is
usually known for. Raghavan is essentially a cinephile’s filmmaker due to all
the references in every single shot in his films, but Merry Christmas lacks
that aspect of Raghavan’s filmmaking.
The performances are easily the best part of the
film. The two main leads Vijay Sethupati and Katrina Kaif are excellent, knowing
what they have to do and do just that, ably aided by the supporting actors. The
direction keeps you engrossed. The screenplay is where the main problem lies:
it desperately needed a rewrite. The dialogues feel a little off. The songs
aren’t that good, but the scene in which they used “Jab andhera hota hai” is
excellent. The climax is polarising. And the way they utilised Vivaldi’s The 4
Seasons during the final scenes is excellent, along with a newly recorded
Vertigo theme.
Merry Christmas isn’t up to the mark, but is not
bad.
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