Recently, while talking about the film, Katrina was asked if she knew co-star Vijay prior to the movie. She immediately said that she loved this movie 96 (Tamil movie, that came out in 2018), that starred Vijay Sethupathi and Trisha Krishnan in lead roles. Kat told Bollywood Hungama that she had actually loved 96. It had scenes that even now she remembers, so she was familiar with him from that movie.
However, just to refresh her memory, before meeting him, Katrina googled him, and the first image that came up on Instagram was this very distinguished salt and pepper kind of silver hair, which she loved!
Katrina Kaif describes working in ‘Merry Christmas’ as a ‘unique journey about two fascinating characters’
Recently, Katrina and Vijay, along with the director Sriram Raghavan, lyricist Varun Grover, and producer Ramesh Turani, held a press conference in the national capital.
While talking to the media, they opened up about making the film in Tamil and Hindi and how challenging it was to shoot the film in two languages. The actors also shared their experiences of working together.
Katrina said that she always wanted to work with Sriram Raghavan and it was a great experience to be part of his film. She said, “I’ve always wanted to work with Sriram Raghavan. I’m his fan and wanted to be a part of the movies he makes; being part of this film is amazing because I had an opportunity to be part of a lovely story, and ‘Merry Christmas’ is always going to be a film I am tremendously proud of and close to my heart.”
On sharing her experience of working with Vijay, she added, “It was fantastic. Vijay is the best performer. During the first week of rehearsals, I was quite interested in his thought process and how he looked at every scene. Sriram sir gave the actors a lot of space before the shoot, and we had a lot of discussion. When I watched the final result, what I saw between Vijay sir and my character was surprising.”
Vijay also praised Katrina and said, “She has been in the industry for so long, so I was a bit apprehensive as to how will be her attitude on the set because if the actor has an attitude, it is difficult to work with him or her. I met her first time in Sriram sir’s office and as soon as she entered the office there was such a healthy conversation. She likes to discuss more and listen more. There was a better understanding between us on the set. So much I gained and learned from her.”
When asked why he thought of making a film in Tamil and Hindi, director Sriram Raghavan said, “I have been living in Mumbai but I am a Tamil and always wanted to make a film in my mother tongue. So, because of the casting, I thought why not make it in two languages? Although, it was not easy and more challenging for Katrina because of the language, however, she managed to do it successfully.”
Katrina agreed and said, “It was a challenging process to do the Tamil version, as first we shot in Hindi and reshot in Tamil but I needed to have to have the same ease in conversation with Vijay and it was challenging but then I decided not to think much and finally it happened.”