Christmas Karma (PG)

Mean-spirited miser Eshaan Sood runs a loans and financial services service, which he started with his late business partner Jacob Marley. Eshaan callously fires his staff on Christmas Eve except for loyal clerk Bob Cratchit, who returns home to wife Mary and their four children including Tiny Tim. As the clock ticks down to Christmas Day, Eshaan is tormented by Marley's spirit and three spectral heralds.

LondonNet Film Review

Christmas Karma (PG) Film Review from LondonNet

Following her reworking of Frank Capra (It’s A Wonderful Afterlife) and a Bollywood-style revision of Jane Austen (Bride And Prejudice), writer-director Gurinder Chadha unwraps Charles Dickens’s festive fable of ghostly visitations. She reimagines a cold-hearted curmudgeon’s redemption in modern-day London where timely concerns about immigration, the meaning of Britishness and the rise of Reform UK are at the forefront of her Scrooge’s mind…

“I have no time for the weak,” loudly professes mean-spirited miser Eshaan Sood (Kunal Nayyar), bemoaning the UK’s rising population and the intolerable strain on the NHS and public services. “There is a limit to what this island can manage,” he sneers. Seven years since the death of his business partner Jacob Marley (Hugh Bonneville), Eshaan presides over their loans and financial services business with an absence of compassion for those less fortunate. He callously fires his staff on Christmas Eve except for loyal clerk Bob Cratchit (Leo Suter), who returns home to wife Mary (Pixie Lott) and their four children including Tiny Tim (Freddie Marshall-Ellis). The boy requires urgent medical treatment in Switzerland.

As the clock ticks down to Christmas Day, Eshaan is tormented by Marley’s spirit and three spectral heralds. The Ghost of Christmas Past (Eva Longoria) transports Eshaan to childhood in early 1970s Uganda when Idi Amin ordered the expulsion of the minority Asian population. Happier times working for Mr Fezzywig (Allan Corduner) and his wife (Tracy-Ann Oberman) preface the arrival of the Ghost of Christmas Present (Billy Porter) to offer glimpses at how nephew Eddie (Bilal Hasna) truly feels about Eshaan. A shrouded Ghost of Christmas Future (Boy George) silently awaits Tiny Tim’s funeral cortege, which tips Eshaan over the edge.

Christmas Karma is a well-intentioned update to Dickens, soaked with more Yuletide spirit than the booziest homemade Christmas pud. Chadha’s film doesn’t go up in flames but some of the tonal gear shifts are uncomfortably sharp. Nayyar’s committed lead performance provides grim-faced consistency until his skinflint’s joyful rebirth. Supporting characters sing, rap and quip, including Colin the Cabbie (Danny Dyer), who caterwauls his version of the 12 Days Of Christmas which commences with a butter-basted turkey. “I’m not sayin’ me wife can’t cook but we usually pray after we’ve eaten,” he chuckles.

An eclectic musical soundtrack mirrors the rich multiculturalism of the capital, melding pop, bhangra, gospel, Christmas carols and rap with original contributions from Gary Barlow, Nitin Sawhney, Shaznay Lewis, Ben Cullum, Panjabi MC, Malkit Singh and Jassi Sidhu. The seasonal salutations culminate in Priyanka Chopra performing a Hindi-language version of Last Christmas by Wham!, which becomes a full cast and crew singalong over the end credits in keeping with Chadha’s previous films.

– Sarah Lee