Christmas Karma review: Kunal Nayyar presents a tale of ghosts and redemption
‘Christmas Karma’ tells the story of a bitter businessman transformed by the ghosts of the festive season. The film blends music with the magic of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol to explore the festival and impart life lessons from an Indian’s perspective.
Christmas is considered a holly-jolly time of the year. But, for some people, the twinkling lights and festive cheer may seem like a nightmare. christmas karmaWritten and directed by Gurinder Chadha, revolves around just such a man.
From Charles Dickens’s Ebenezer Scrooge a Christmas Carol Chadha reprises his role as Ishaan Sood (played by Kunal Nayyar), a London-based Indian businessman who can’t stand Christmas cheer. He scolds his clients for not taking financially sound decisions, withholds Christmas bonuses, fires his office staff for having an office party, gets angry at a taxi driver, scolds a local shopkeeper and doesn’t even spare a choir near his house for singing Christmas songs loudly.
He even declines his nephew’s invitation to attend his Christmas party, as it is not even an Indian festival. The darkness and indifferent behavior in his life is further reflected at his home and office places as he refuses to pay his electricity bill.
On Christmas Eve, Ishaan is visited by a ghost – the spirit of his former friend Marley. The ghost warned him that if he did not change his ways he would be harmed and that the ghosts of his past, present and future would visit him throughout the night.
Over the course of an hour and 50 minutes, the audience discovers why Ishaan is the way he is. He, along with the ghost of his past (played by Eva Longoria), traces the major life events that occurred in his life that made him so bitter. This includes migrant crises, losing parents and even heartbreak.
As the film progresses, Ishaan also realizes what will happen if he continues to remove people and happiness from his life – all thanks to the Ghost of Christmas Future (played by Boy George).
Chaddha, who previously Bollywoodized Jane Austen’s 1813 novel pride and Prejudice As Aishwarya Rai-starring bride and prejudiceAttempt to give Dickens a Bollywood musical twist a Christmas Carol with christmas karma, This film is based on the spirit of Christmas and Indian culture. There is a song for every emotion and every track, giving the audience a light-hearted experience despite the heavy subjects. There are even Punjabi renditions of Christmas carols, a novelty among year-end festive films.
Kunal Nayyar is at the core of the film. He single-handedly carries the entire film on his shoulders. One of the most notable roles in the film is that of Billy Porter, who plays the ghost of the present. He drives home the message: Don’t let hate define you, be wise, and embrace your pain.
The movie is full of life lessons, but that’s not enough to keep you interested. One reason for this may be anomalies that are difficult to ignore. ghost of a Christmas Carol Fail to make you sit upright in your seat, and don’t give you a single jump scare. Even though the film is less than two hours long, it could have been shortened further to keep the story tightly bound.
If you’re looking to watch a Christmas movie with kids in theaters, go christmas karmaIt is a musical experience as well as didactic, Don’t expect humor or horror – because there is none, However, you can expect a song sung by Priyanka Chopra in the end credits,