Musical based on Dickens classic
BEND It Like Beckham helmer Gurinder Chadha is set to start shooting for her next production, Christmas Karma, a Bollywood musical set in contemporary London and inspired by Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol.
Kunal Nayyar, who is best known for his role in the popular sitcom The Big Bang Theory, is the lead actor in a star-studded global cast, which includes Eva Longoria, Boy George, Billy Porter, Hugh Bonneville, Leo Suter, Charithra Chandran, Pixie Lott, Danny Dyer, Allan Corduner, Bilal Hasna, Tracy-Ann Oberman, Rufus Jones, Eve and Nitin Ganatra.
Chadha is also the producer and writer, and the music is by the sixtime Ivor Novello award-winning singer and songwriter Gary Barlow, apart from Shaznay Lewis and Nitin Sawhney. Shooting began on Monday.
Christmas Karma sees Chadha’s return to the big screen following time working on the Indian historical television series
Beecham House. Her last feature film was
Blinded by the Light, which premiered at Sundance 2019 and was subject to a frenzied bidding war, with Warners Bros acquiring multiple territories.
Commenting on the project, Chadha said in a statement: “Just as I have enjoyed Frank Capra’s It’s a Wonderful Life for many years, my aim with Christmas
Karma is to create a festive classic for our times and for generations to come.”
The sound track, Chadha promised, “will be banging, influenced by gospel, bhangra, carols and classic pop songs. You will not be able to sit still.”
Reflecting on his role in a media statement, Nayyar commented: “To explore a beloved holiday tale through the eyes of an immigrant story (much like my own) is exactly the kind of movie that I believe will resonate with so many of us who are searching for the meaning of home.”