Why would Kanan Gill, who has made a name ripping campy Bollywood films apart, pick a soppy Christmas romcom? That’s what you are left wondering after watching Christmas As Usual on Netflix, especially if you have followed and loved the stand-up comedian’s YouTube series Pretentious Movie Reviews.
In Christmas As Usual, Kanan plays Jashan Joshi, aka Jash, the Indian boyfriend of Norwegian girl Thea (Ida Ursin-Holm), who plans to introduce him to her family during Christmas and break the news of their engagement to her mother Anne-Lise (Marit Adeleide Andreassen). That moment never comes as the cultural differences between Thea’s Norwegian family and her Indian fiance pop up every now and then before snowballing into a full-blown crisis.
Jash is an outsider whose unfamiliarity with Norwegian Yuletide customs interferes with Anne-Lise’s obsession to have a perfect Christmas in accordance with the wishes of her late husband. Jash tries his best to fit in but the chaos escalates to a point where he gets into a fistfight with Thea’s ex-boyfriend, who is also their neighbour, on Christmas eve.
Jash leaves, but not before accusing Thea of not having his back. Thea eventually breaks down and tells her mother she’s engaged to Jash. Anne-Lise then undergoes a rather abrupt and very unconvincing change of heart, which finally reunites the two lovers.
Despite decent performances by Kanan, Ida and Marit, Christmas As Usual feels jaded for its predictable storyline and director Petter Holmsen’s cliched treatment of the theme at a time when cross-cultural relationships are no more a rarity.
Both Norwegian and Indian traditions have been presented in a way that only serves to perpetuate the misconceptions about them. While Norwegian rituals seem to be little more than the mindless beliefs of a cult, India comes off as a backward and uncivilised country with a surplus of people and spices.
Adding to the cliches is a Punjabi wedding song. The closing sequence features snippets from the now married Thea and Jash’s cross-cultural Christmas celebration the following year. The cold and distant Anne-Lise pairs her bunad with jhumkas, while Thea wears a maangtika with hers. Wonder what Kanan might have to say about this film in his Pretentious Movie Reviews.