This November, Gurinder Chadha brings us Christmas Karma, a musical reimagining of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. With a glittering cast, a knockout soundtrack, and Chadha’s signature mix of heart and humour, it promises to be the film that defines the holiday season.
London – 28 August 2025 – The first images of Christmas Karma have arrived, and we are already feeling festive. From the director who gave us Bend It Like Beckham and Blinded By The Light, Gurinder Chadha is back with her most ambitious project yet. Landing in cinemas across the UK and Ireland on 14 November, this is the Christmas movie we did not know we needed but now cannot wait to see.
Kunal Nayyar, beloved worldwide as Raj from The Big Bang Theory, takes centre stage as Mr. Sood, Chadha’s modern-day Scrooge. Watching him swap comic timing for something darker and more layered already has us intrigued. Then add in the three Ghosts of Christmas played by Eva Longoria, Billy Porter and Boy George, and suddenly the ghosts feel more like headliners than side characters. Imagine that line-up sharing the
screen.
The cast list keeps delivering. Leo Suter, Pixie Lott, Charithra Chandran, Danny Dyer and Hugh Bonneville all join the party. It is the kind of roll call that makes you sit up and think: yes, this is going to be huge.
And then there is the music. Forget predictable Christmas jingles. The soundtrack draws from gospel, bhangra, rap, carols and classic pop. With contributions from Gary Barlow, Nitin Sawhney, Shaznay Lewis, Ben Cullum, Panjabi MC and Malkit Singh, it is shaping up to be as much a playlist as a film. Panjabi MC next to a Christmas carol? Only Gurinder Chadha could pull that off.
What makes us excited is not just the big names or the music, though both are enough to sell tickets on their own. It is Chadha’s ability to wrap social commentary in joy and humour, to show us Britain as it really is,
and to make us laugh, cry and sing along in one sitting. She has a way of creating films that feel both personal and universal, and Christmas Karma looks like it will be no exception.
November cannot come soon enough. Consider our tickets booked and our playlists cleared, because this is the film that will own the festive season.
