New Delhi: Gurinder Chadha’s latest film Christmas Karma is an ode to both the ‘Ik Onkar’ philosophy of Guru Nanak Dev, and the moral fable of Charles Dickens’ classic novella, A Christmas Carol. The 65-year-old filmmaker, known for movies like Bhaji on the Beach (1993), Bend it Like Beckham (2002) and Bride and Prejudice (2004), is now taking a classic British story and making it a uniquely migrant experience.
A Christmas Carol is about the miserly Mr Scrooge who is taught by three ghosts about the spirit of giving. In Chadha’s film it is rich Indian immigrant Eshaan Sood (Kunal Nayyar) who is taught about the Christmas spirit by three ghosts, played by Eva Longoria, Boy George and Billy Porter.
But she could not find any backers for her film about an immigrant’s experience of Christmas, led by an actor of Indian-origin.
Anushka Shah, head of Civic Studios, which is based out of Mumbai and London, came on board after a chance meeting at the Cannes Film Festival two years ago. Shah, who initially met Chadha as a fan, waiting to click a picture, eventually became the film’s financier.
The studio’s past releases include Sandhya Suri’s Santosh, which was shortlisted as UK’s official entry for the Oscars 2025, won the writer-director a nomination for Outstanding Debut award at BAFTA 2025. It is also behind the upcoming biopic of Somali boxing champion Ramla Ali, directed by Emmy winning Anthony Wonke.
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An immigrant Christmas
It was a yearly family ritual, of watching Frank Capra’s It’s A Wonderful Life with her children, that inspired Chadha to make Christmas Karma. It was also an ode to the celebrations she grew up with. Once her parents moved to London from Kenya, Christmas meant a family lunch, gifts under the tree, and watching the Queen’s speech on TV.
“When I wrote the screenplay, it was before Covid, and I felt like the whole world was in the same boat and we are all connected. But now, things have shifted in a big way,” said Chadha referring to the growing anti-immigrant sentiment among the UK’s policy makers and the country’s residents.
Chadha’s choice of Kunal Nayyar was two-fold—he is a well-known face on television, thanks to his decade-long stint as the awkward scientist Rajesh Koothrappali in The Big Bang Theory (2007-19), and his own journey. He was born in London, grew up in Delhi before eventually settling in Los Angeles.
“I see my films as unique historical documents that show the diaspora in the way they should be seen around the world,” said Chadha. For the director, the film is an alternative version of Dickens’ all-white world in A Christmas Carol. “This film will be studied academically in schools to show how powerful Dickens’ message was,” added the director.
The 44-year-old Nayyar initially was horrified at playing a character in his 60s. But Chadha’s conviction made Nayyar give the role a try.
“He initially said why can’t you write a James Bond-like character for me? I told him that there is a sense of melancholy he has that would work for the role. He eventually agreed,” said Chadha.
The critics in the UK panned the movie.
“Christmas Karma is a film made with the best of intentions by some lovely human beings but which keeps finding new and spine-twistingly embarrassing ways to fall flat on its face,” wrote film critic Robbie Collin in his review in The Telegraph.
Also read: There’s a reason why Christmas movies always work. All is forgiven in the holiday season
Bending it
In October, a delegation accompanied UK PM Keir Starmer to India. Starmer’s visit, meant to strengthen trade relations between the two countries, focused on creating employment through film production. He even visited the Yash Raj Films Studios and inked a three film deal. Over a 100 UK CEOs, entrepreneurs, university Vice Chancellors and cultural leaders were part of the two-day visit between 8-10 October. Chadha was also part of the delegation, representing her production company.
The irony of being included in the delegation was not lost on Chadha. She struggled to find funds for her multicultural film, but was brought in both as a British director of eminence and a global Indian citizen. Shah’s Civic Studios too was part of the delegation.
Civic Studios was founded by Shah during her stint at MIT Media Lab in 2019. Born and brought up in Mumbai, Shah completed her Masters in quantitative research at New York University before she went to work as a research associate at the MIT Media Lab. The studio was set up with the premise that films are a way of inspiring empathy and reflection, especially those that are culturally rooted.
“I have a mixed race baby, and I think that it is going to be tough for her growing up in this environment. But its films like those Gurinder has made, that helps a lot of global Indians feel like you can be part of multiple identities, and not just wear one label,” said Shah.
Even today, Chadha’s breakout film, Bend It Like Beckham, stands out as one of the few Indian-led stories about the diaspora.
“He [Beckham] was at a Meta event in Mumbai on Sunday, where people still yell ‘bend it like Beckham’ and he is irritated,” said Chadha, with a laugh. The film, which starred Parminder Nagra, Keira Knightley, Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Archie Panjabi, was a global hit, with its depiction of the Sikh immigrant experience in Hounslow, England.
“After I made Bend it Like Beckham and proved to the world that the story about an Indian girl growing up in West London with her family can be a global success, I was shocked that there weren’t more films like that being made around the world. That shows how hard it is in the West to tell our stories, particularly from a female perspective,” said Chadha.
(Edited by Theres Sudeep)