52 Films by Women Vol 9. 39. Christmas Karma (Director: Gurinder Chadha)

 

Pictured: Sood's cornered. Modern-day scrooge Eshaan Sood (Kunal Sayyar) fixes London's Christmas decorations with a steely glare in a scene from 'Christmas Karma', adapted from Charles Dickens' 'A Christmas Carol' by writer-director Gurinder Chadha. Still courtesy of True Brit Entertainment.

I never really liked Charles Dickens’ ‘A Christmas Carol’, the story of a mean and miserly man visited by four ghosts who collectively teach him to use his wealth for the betterment of others. Where is the sequel when his generosity is exploited by individuals even meaner than he is? The turnaround in Ebenezer Scrooge is achieved not through wisdom, rather fear. He is offered a glimpse of life after his death and is shocked to discover how little he is thought of. Dickens’ narrative was ingenious for its time and spoke to a world filled with grinding poverty. However, these days, its ‘feel good’ ending doesn’t ring true. It would take more than a night visit by four poltergeists to change many of the world’s billionaires, who would rather send rockets into space than improve life on Earth.

My enthusiasm for Christmas Karma, writer-director Gurinder Chadha’s contemporary Anglo-Asian take on the story, was dampened from the start. Chadha sticks to Dickens’ narrative beats in her tale of an Indian businessman, Eshaan Sood (Kunal Nayyar) who fires his financial adviser and most of his workforce on Christmas Eve because he is in a party-pooping mood. The film opens with a cringe worthy singalong number that makes the audience feel as curmudgeonly as Chadha’s protagonist, with London ‘geezer’ Danny Dyer cast as a misogynistic taxi driver who breaks into song. His version of ‘The Twelve Days of Christmas’ is enough for audience members to book the undertaker. Sood has no access to joy and regards the choir singing on the steps of a church opposite his West London house to be a nuisance. He also complains to the manager of a Christmas market that he is operating a bad business model. Yet ‘Winter Wonderland’, held in Hyde Park each December, does a roaring trade.

Like many businessmen, Sood equates ruthlessness with success. He visits a corner shop, berates the owner for having to sell his Christmas stock half price the next and is just plain grumpy. He has a loyal lieutenant, Bob Cratchit (Leo Suter), who is grateful for his job and avoids Sood’s wrath even when receiving a Christmas advance – Sood hands him cash. Bob is forced to shop for cheap goods – a £2 child’s astronaut helmet, a used guitar – and provides for his many children, even his sickly son, Tim (Freddie Marshall-Ellis) as best he can. However, Bob’s wife Mary (Pixie Lott, who appears in the opening number) is less forgiving.

Naturally, Sood comes home to an empty house and receives not the expected text message from a lawyer acting on behalf of his workforce protesting unfair dismissal rather a special effect – the face of his former business partner, Jacob Marley (Hugh Bonneville), who appears to him in chains. Why chains and not a Guantanamo-style orange jump suit, you tell me. He is there to brief Sood to expect three further visitors. Like most directors, Chadha plays this for horror. However, there is scope for comedy, for example, Marley changing his appearance having got Sood’s attention, that Chadha doesn’t exploit. Even a Downton Abbey gag would have been welcome. By this point, four musical numbers in (including one with that used guitar, and Sood’s workforce erupting into dance, ad some ropey lip-synching), we wonder how the director will ignite our interest.

Pictured: Minding Your Make Up. Eva Longoria plays The Ghost of Christmas Present in 'Christmas Karma', a modern day adaptation of Charles Dickens' 'A Christmas Carol' from writer-director Gurinder Chadha. Still courtesy of True Brit Entertainment.

Fortunately, Chadha has one good idea, to have each of the ghosts reflect a different culture. Sood is first visited by a Mexican Ghost of Christmas Past (Eva Longoria) who comes with her own mariachi band. Longoria is encased in make-up that reminds us of the cast of Cats – her nose is painted black. Yet her section is by far the best thing in the movie as it is rooted in a hitherto not well-known part of British history, how Uganda under Idi Amin forced the United Kingdom to accept scores of Asian refugees evicted from the country. Among them is Sood’s family. Chadha includes news footage to demonstrate that this is no dramatic invention. Young Eshaan is separated from his childhood friend and endures life in a grim-looking country. Nurtured by a businessman, Fezzywig (Allan Corduner), he starts dating a colleague, Bea (Charitha Chandran). However, Eshaan is told by Bea’s parents that he’s not good enough. Hardened by an encounter with racist thugs, Eshaan pledges to make a success of himself and then marry Bea. Bea is alienated by his aggression.

This section makes us forget that we are watching a version of ‘A Christmas Carol’. Chadha doesn’t spoil the flashbacks with musical numbers and directs to her strengths. For her part, Longoria’s presence is negated by her make up. The reminder that England once welcomed and showed compassion to refugees – another of Sood’s bugbears – is not overdone. Unfortunately, there are a further two ghosts to meet.

Chadha’s Ghost of Christmas Present is played by the American singer Billy Porter, whose Broadway appearances include the musical, Kinky Boots. Porter’s stage charisma is sadly lacking here. Chadha clearly intended to lift the audience after the social realist section, but the music isn’t strong enough. Sood hears what his family think of him, and he learns that Tim’s life is in danger – the child needs specialist surgery in Switzerland. This section does feature the best song (written by Gary Barlow), as Bob asks that Sood ‘find the boy inside the man’. As in Dickens’ story, you think this might be enough for Sood to re-think his life, but there’s more.

Sood is shown his own funeral service by the Ghost of Christmas Future, played by the singer Boy George in make-up that suggests that he is one of the living dead. Boy George is instantly recognisable, associated with the hit song, 'Karma Chameleon'. He doesn’t speak. He doesn’t have to. We learn that Sood’s funeral was attended by the woman from the corner shop. ‘Loyal to the end,’ he muses.

Pictured: Three Ghosts (left to right, Boy George, Billy Porter, Eva Longoria) fix Mr Sood (Kunal Nayyar) with judgmental stares in a scene from 'Christmas Karma', adapted from Charles Dickens' 'A Christmas Carol' by writer-director Gurinder Chadha. Still courtesy of True Brit Entertainment.

But what of Tim? Sood’s empathy gets a re-boot. In the finale, his compassion reaches eleven, donating to the choir, buying up the shop’s Christmas stock ‘for ten times the price’, and visiting Bob’s family. He also visits Uganda.

As the title song is reprised, the audience is happily relieved of a reason to watch, though Chadha includes a Desi version of ‘Last Christmas’, performed by Priyanka Chopra, with only the song’s title in English. The credits are overlaid with behind-the-scenes production footage of Chadha and team having a much better time than the audience did.

As I left the cinema, I felt that Chadha had missed a trick. Why couldn’t the Asian Scrooge figure have been a woman? There have been two prominent Anglo Asians who have held the position of Home Secretary in the UK Government and have demonstrated a complete lack of empathy. This may have made for a more resonant film. Christmas Karma has attracted the worst reviews of Chadha’s career, the highpoints of which have included Bend It Like Beckham and Blinded by the Light. It has earned only £856,538 after its second weekend of wide release in the UK (source: Comscore).

Reviewed at Cineworld Leicester Square (Screen Five), Central London, Wednesday 19 November 2025