Katrina Kaif and Vijay Sethupathi's Merry Christmas, which is the first Bollywood release of 2024, is garnering positive reviews from the audience as well as film critics. Soon after the film released, several social media users shared their reactions to the Sriram Raghavan-directorial. While a portion of the audience was captivated by the director's craft and maintained their trust based on the filmmaker's previous works, others praised the lead actor's performances.
Netizens particularly praised the film's second half and were impressed by the twists and turns from pre-interval.
"Merry Christmas is a must watch movie. Katrina n Vijay nailed it," a user wrote on X (formerly known as Twitter).
The Free Press Journal's review of Merry Christmas read, "The film is laced with several plot twists and his typical style of storytelling. It is utterly clever, engaging, and entertaining in almost every sense. To compile his crazy thoughts and collate them into a one-night story is just about perfect. Sriram Raghavan certainly chased his first half with great acceleration but the second half could have been tighter— not letting anyone conclude, Raghavan takes his own sweet time only to unravel the climax that might be well deserved by his imagination."
Set on the night of Christmas Eve, the film narrates the curious life story of a single mother Maria (Katrina), who is on a day out with her mute daughter Annie (Pari Sharma). She accidentally meets Albert (Vijay), a Dubai-returned architect, but life unfolds bitter truths as they cross paths with each other.
Merry Christmas has been shot in two languages, with different supporting actors. The Hindi version also features Sanjay Kapoor, Vinay Pathak, Pratima Kannan, and Tinnu Anand. The Tamil version stars Radhika Sarathkumar, Shanmugaraja, Kevin Jay Babu, and Rajesh Williams in the same roles.
