Merry Christmas box office collection day 3: Katrina Kaif-Vijay Sethupathi film stays steady, closes in on Rs 10 crore mark

While not facing direct competition from new Hindi releases, Merry Christmas in the Tamil cinema arena contends with two other films – Dhanush’s Captain Miller and Rakul Preet Singh’s Ayalaan. Captain Miller amassed Rs 23.40 crore in three days, whereas Ayalaan secured Rs 13.05 crore during the same time frame.

Merry Christmas marks Sriram Raghavan’s seventh film in a career spanning 20 years, with the director renowned for cult cinema classics such as Ek Hasina Thi, Johnny Gaddaar, Badlapur and Andhadhun.

In her review for Indian Express, Shubhra Gupta awarded the film 3 stars and praised Katrina Kaif and Vijay Sethupathi’s portrayal of Maria, stating, “Katrina Kaif, who has always hinted (remember her in ‘Zero’?) that she can be an actor underneath all that pancake and bump-and-grind, makes us believe in her Maria, with her red lips and seductive change of dress: is she as innocent as she makes herself out to be? And Vijay Sethupati’s Albert is just flat-out terrific, perfectly balancing yearning-and-caring in the way he responds to the lovely Maria, jiving and swaying, and holding us close. I can see the film again just for this pas-de-deux.”