It’s Christmas Eve in Bombay in a world before social media and smart phones. Albert (Vijay Sethupathi) comes back to his late mother’s empty flat and decides to walk around the city. He goes to a restaurant and encounters a young mother, Maria, (Katrina Kaif), and her young daughter. Coincidentally, they end up at a showing of Pinnochio at a local theater. He helps her carry the sleeping child and her giant teddy bear home. She invites him in for a drink. She says her husband is unfaithful and there is an instant attraction between Albert and Maria. He tells her he is an architect living in Dubai; she tells him about her family bakery that makes butter biscuits. Their chemistry builds as they share a drink and dance to music in a living room decorated for Christmas.
What follows is a gripping thriller with multiple plot twists and turns. There’s murder, deception, complicated back stories, a very charming child who does not speak and is under treatment for that, and a city brightly lit and celebrating Christmas. To say more about the plot would reveal spoilers.
The film’s narrative is engrossing; the viewer knows from the minute that Albert and Maria meet that there is more to their chance encounter than they know. The film invites us to imagine, speculate, find connections, and try to connect the opening shot of two blenders one of which is powdering pills—try as we may, we never quite figure it out. Even after the film has come to an end, one recalls tiny clues that foreshadowed different parts of the plot.
Katrina Kaif and Vijay Sethupathi deliver excellent performances—are they conning each other, is this an unlikely romance, will the murder be solved—these questions will engross the viewer. Bombay of yesteryear (not Mumbai) is constantly present in all its cosmopolitan glory. At various points, one will forget to eat popcorn. One also needs a pal to watch this film with whom one can constantly share theories of the plot and whodunnit. It’s a perfect film for a lazy weekend’s entertainment.
Nalini Iyer is a Professor of English at Seattle University where she teaches courses in Asian American, Postcolonial, and South Asian Studies. She is the author/editor of several books in literary criticism. She lives in Kirkland. WA.
