Merry Christmas: How Katrina Kaif masterfully blended mystery and motherhood in Sriram Raghavan's whodunnit | Explained

In the world of Sriram Raghavan, we have to witness and visit the opening stretch twice. This has been the case with at least three of his films- Johnny Gaddaar, Andhadhun, and his latest film Merry Christmas. The filmmaker first shows what happened, and then why it happened, and how it happened. He throws a piece of a puzzle at us and then assembles them when he wants.

The first scene of Johnny Gaddaar and _Andhadhun_ are repeated in the climax, but in this, it happens pretty early. _Merry Christmas_ begins with Vijay Sethupathi and Katrina Kaif talking to each other while walking towards the actress’ house. We don’t know how they met but we know all our queries will be answered. Raghavan’s cinema will never spoon-feed the audience, and the little things he does show his insightful filmmaking. When Sethupathi’s Albert and Kaif’s Maria bump into each other inside Regal Cinema in Mumbai’s Colaba, they have come to watch the film Pinocchio.

Raghavan’s fascination for cinema has been intact ever since his debut, and his references mix nicely with his films’ narrative. Be it Parwana in Johnny Gaddaar, Sholay in Badlapur, or the aforementioned film here. Pinocchio is someone who’s known to be a perpetual liar, exactly like our central characters. They both lie to each other, or at least hide their discomforting truths. There’s a bit when the screen shows signs before the film begins and one of the messages reads- Don’t forget your longings in the cinema halls. Of course, the word is belongings and be is blurred. It’s a great way to hint at Maria and Albert’s loneliness.

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Both have lost the love of their lives and the clincher is they were the ones who murdered them for different reasons. Which brings us to the performance of Katrina Kaif. She masterfully blends motherhood and mystery to her Maria. The dim lights at her house suggest something eerie about her presence and intent, and glimpses of her stares unveil her evil side, which is later humanized. This could be yet another telling of Devotion Of Suspect X, but with far more palatable results. Maria repeats a tragedy twice, with two different people, and the twist comes as an amusing jolt.

And this has become Raghavan’s second fascination. He wants to show us his opening scene twice, but won’t unravel the mystery of his finales. Six years later, people still discuss if Ayushmann Khurrana was actually blind in Andhadhun or not. For _Merry Christmas_, we can have a debate on why Albert did what he did. It’s not exactly an open end, all the cards are right there for us to see. The only question is- Who won?