‘Christmas Karma’ Spins Dickens In Messy, Modern Musical Tale

Christmas Karma gives Dickens’ classic ‘A Christmas Carol’ a contemporary Bollywood-inspired musical spin. Despite moments of genuine warmth and ambition, it suffers from tonal whiplash and flat production, turning a promising adaptation into a Hallmark-style schlock.

In the film, director Gurinder Chadha (Bend It Like Beckham), whose diasporic storytelling has charmed audiences worldwide, reimagines Scrooge’s story through a British-Indian lens.

Her intent is clear: a classic redemption tale infused with cultural identity and political commentary, this time with a musical spectacle. Yet that balance, usually Chadha’s strength, falters early.

A contemporary Christmas Carol turned Bollywood-esque musical

Eshaan Sood (Kunal Nayyar) is a bitter penny-pinching first-generation businessman whose only opinion of Christmas is “bakwas” —Chadha’s modern Scrooge. His miserliness reflects Tory-flavoured individualism and inherited trauma.

He is visited by the ghosts of Christmas past (Eva Longoria), present (Billy Porter) and future (Boy George), each attempting to guide him towards self-reflection. Mildly energetic, the stunt-cast ghosts are further weakened by cartoonish effects and dull sets.

The film’s most compelling thread is Sood’s past. Scenes in 1970’s Uganda, during the expulsion of Indians under Idi Amin, are haunting and visually striking, giving weight to Dickens’ original moral wound.

After migrating to London, we see the pressures and prejudice that shaped Sood. Here, Christmas Karma briefly touches the moral weight of It’s A Wonderful Life, grounded Sood’s redemption in real struggle.

Unfortunately, clunky staging, uneven pacing and cringe-worthy musical numbers falter and prevent the story from landing as it deserves.

Compounding Christmas Karma is its production value, which rarely rises above televisual quality. Flat lighting and stagey choreography sap energy, while glaringly inconsistent lip-syncing frequently pulls viewers out of the moment.

Christmas Karma‘s music swings from catchy to cringe

The soundtrack, featuring Gary Barlow, Shaznay Lewis and more, is quite a mixed bag.

The title track hits as an undeniable earworm, along with Billy Porter’s ‘Rise Up‘ and Malkit Singh’s Christmas Bhangra sequence injecting a brief jolt of energy and emotional footing.

The rest are badly mixed, from painfully generic to forgettable, stretching already sluggish scenes.

Nayyar is stiff and one-note, his permanently furrowed brow amplifying unmodulated bitterness to near headache-inducing levels. Most of the supporting cast is wooden, though Charithra Chandran, as Sood’s past love interest, offers a brief star-quality respite.

Yet, the film is a fun watch in parts. It’s quintessentially British chaos, with Danny Dyer as a singing cabby, beloved soap actors, and panto-like energy that elicits smiles in spite of itself.

And Chadha deserves credit for weaving relevant social commentary on racism, displacement and migrant struggles into a crowd-pleasing holiday film.

Older audiences or families after gentle holiday fare may enjoy it, but younger viewers and critics of saccharine musicals will likely be left bemused.

Christmas Karma means well and carries a resonant message, with enough cultural sincerity to spark a smile. Yet its clumsy execution, uneven music, and production make it a well-intentioned misfire rather than a new seasonal staple.

★★½

Christmas Karma is out in cinemas now.