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It's Christmas time!

Merry Christmas (Hindi/Tamil versions; 2024)
Director: Sriram Raghavan

This film has it all: a little Hitchcockian, a tinge of noir, and a hefty dose of female fatale. Set in the urban setting of Bombay at Christmas, the storytellers thought it was all right to cast modern-thinking characters with modern values as protagonists. Otherwise, it would not be believable that a seemingly single mother would send flirting vibes and respond to the advances of a random hunk at the movie theatre. 

That is what happened in this movie. It is Christmas Eve. While everyone is in a celebratory mood, a recently released murderer, Albert, returns to his mother's home. As old memories haunt him, he goes out for a stroll. He meets Maria, who is wandering around with her young daughter, first at a restaurant and then at the cinema hall. They strike up a conversation, and she walks her home. After having a nightcap and leaving the sleeping child at home, they go for another walkabout. Upon their return, they discover Maria's husband slouched on a settee, dead, after apparently shooting himself. 

Albert, as a recently released convict, is sceptical about being involved in a death investigation. She instructs Maria to inform the police while he wipes out evidence of his presence at her apartment. 

Hours later, curious about the turns of events, Albert returns to Maria's apartment. There is no hullabaloo of a crime scene. Instead, he finds her in the company of another gentleman, going up to her place. He follows them to find no dead body there!

The rest of the movie is predictable, not because it is poorly done but because we have seen it all too many times in various combinations. The original story is from a 1962 French movie, Paris Pick-Up @ Le Monte-charge. The French version was more precise, shorter and straight to the point. In the Indian versions, however, there are additional characters. One cannot help but wonder whether other little nuggets are inserted between scenes to imply anything. I, for one, was left wondering whether the purpose of Albert's uncle naming his home-brewed moonshine 'Yadhoom' (Scandivanian for 'reason of existence'; why we love for) carried any obscure philosophical connotation to the whole story. 

Nevertheless, it is a refreshing movie with a retro 1970s feel, fuelled by a liberal display of neon lights to give it its noir background. Kudos to Vijay Sethupathi, Katrina Kaif and Sanjay Kapoor (in the Hindi version) for their commendable performances. In the authentic Hitchcockian way, it ends with a twist.
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Location: Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

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