‘Christmas Karma’: A holiday film that strays from the heart of Christmas

Writer Sophie Dianne examines Christmas Karma, a modern retelling of Dickens that attempts to blend multiculturalism with Christmas tradition. In doing so, she considers whether the film’s reliance on karma ultimately distances it from the message at the centre of the nativity story.

Christmas Karma is a reimaging of Dicken’s A Christmas Carol, written and directed by Bafta award winner Gurinder Chadha. The story is set in modern, multicultural London, through a British-Indian lens, with the lead, Mr Eshaan Sood played by Kunal Nayyar of Big Bang Theory fame. Like Scrooge, he is a hardnosed businessman, left miserly and bitter.

Over the course of Christmas Eve, Mr Sood is visited by three unforgettable ghosts, in the hope that he will turn his life around, these ghosts embody diverse belief systems. As the night progresses Mr Sood is reminded about karma and encouraged to embrace self-love.