Merry Christmas Movie Review: Vijay Sethupathi’s solo hero movie Merry Christmas after a long time. Vijay Sethupathi, who has made a name for himself by playing many roles in Bollywood, tried to make his mark in Bollywood with this movie. Katrina Kaif played a key role in this movie and Radhika Apte Gayatri played two cameo roles. Under the direction of talented director Sriram Raghavan, this movie was released in Hindi and Tamil languages, but it was postponed twice and released on the occasion of Sankranthi. Due to the rush of big movies in Telugu, not many people know about the release of this movie, but this movie was also released on 12th January along with Guntur Karam Hanuman movies. With Vijay Sethupathi and Katrina Kaif in the lead role, there are huge expectations on the film even among the Telugu audience, but let’s see how the film fared in the review.
MAIN CAST: Vijay Sethupathi, Rajesh, Katrina Kaif,
DIRECTOR: Sriram Raghavan
MUSIC: Pritam
PRODUCER: Ramesh Taurani
Story: After spending seven years in jail, Albert (Vijay Sethupathi) goes to his uncle (Rajesh) house in Bombay. As he was bored he walked nearby Restaurant where he unexpectedly meets Maria (Katrina Kaif).
Both get attracted to each other, Albert follows Maria till her house. While he is expecting to get physical with her at her house, she takes him out for a while. When both return back, Maria who was already married by then, sees her husband commits suicide. Watching the same Albert refrains from staying with her anymore. He erases all his fingerprints and leaves saying that area stating he is already on parole and cannot get involved in this matter.
Later, ignoring what had actually happened , Maria takes her daughter to the church. Albert gets suspicious and follows her. After going there, he finds Maria’s eyes drooping, a man named Ronnie asks Albert to take her to the hospital. After getting into the car, Maria requests to take her to the home, not to the hospital. Albert gets lost in the same thought that happened before. Maria drops Albert off and takes Ronnie back to the church. Meanwhile, Albert goes back to Maria’s house and gets shocked by the scene. What did Albert actually see there? How did Maria’s husband die? Why does Maria attract men and take them home? To know all these things, you will have to watch the whole movie.
Review: The thriller ‘Merry Christmas’ is based on the French novel La Monte Charge by Frederic Da. If you observe all the films of Sriram Raghavan carefully, Always these are woman centric movies with the woman being the focal point of the story of his films. The hero is used only as an ornament to the story of the film.
The same is repeated here. Sriram Raghavan showcases Katrina Kaif in a role which she has portrayed in her career so far. Those who love suspense movies will like ‘Merry Christmas’. In fact the story moves slowly. What is Katrina’s character actually doing? Why is she doing this? These things make the audience suspicious. In this story which is shown to have happened in the days when Mumbai was Bombay, there is no mobile, no social media and the director has maintained suspense without any confusion.
But Sriram took a lot of time to establish these roles. Minus point is slow narration and building up of characters in the first half. However climax is good and unexpected.
Talking about the direction of the technical team, Shriram’s specialty is visible in every frame. The magic he does in the dark background looks good. The detailing was fine. Madhu Neelakandan’s camera maintain the necessary suspense along with the nostalgia. Songs by Pritam are not memorable. As far as acting is concerned, both Vijay Sethupathi and Katrina Kaif have done justice to their roles. Vijay bursts out on screen with his innocence. I think Katrina could have worked more on her expressions for the role of Maria. Among the supporting actors, Rajesh, Ashwini Kalsekar and Radhika Sarath Kumar are remembered in small roles.
Finally: 30 minutes before Interval and 30 minutes of climax will thrill you. This movie is a perfect watch for those who want to watch a good off beat suspense thriller with patience.
Rating: 3.0/5
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