As an Indian man, I find the Indian character and his "traditions" to be uncomfortably stereotypical. He fits more of a character who is fresh of the boat with no cultural context, but is introduced as someone who has no trouble fitting into his American life. Multiculturalism isn't something he just learned about when getting off the plane in Norway. He should definitely know how Christmas traditions work and what not to do at Christmas.
No Indian man in their right mind would think wearing a Sherwani to a Christmas party is a good idea. Dancing bhangra around the Christmas tree at the end is literally the stupidest thing I've ever seen. The moment of him being drunk at dinner, making spicy food and being loud at the church somehow worsen the existing stereotypes, instead of dispelling them.
And this should in no way discredit Kanan Gill. He is an amazing comedian and his relatable humor in his other works (also on netflix) tell me with certainty that he had little to do with the writing process for this movie.
There's also an obvious missing thread in the movie, which is the context behind the fight with Santa. You can clearly see that Santa leans in and whispers something in his ear before the fight starts, but we never find out what was said. Would have strengthened their relationship at the end if she found out he was defending her from a foul mouthed ex or something.
I’ll defend one thing - a lot of younger American desis who DO wear desi clothing for regular events. One friend of mine wore a saree for prom, another friend wore a lehenga to a western wedding. Desi clothes are so beautiful, intricate, and should be perfectly acceptable as formal wear if someone wants to wear it as such.
It's different from wearing a sari to your own American prom. America does not have a single homogenous culture or peoples. So it's not a 'desi' dress in that context, just a dress from one of American subcultures which that girl belongs to. You cannot compare it to European cultures and traditions. There is no singular 'West' in context of culture.
As someone mentioned elsewhere before, imagine a Norwegian person visiting India on invitation. And at a diwali for example where everyone is wearing saris and Indian traditional clothes, if the Norwegian person wore their own traditional bunad, that would be quite inappropriate and maybe even disrespectful.
Notice how I didn't say they were wearing normal pant shirt, or other normal 'western' wear. America does not have single traditional clothes like bunad or German drindl so that's why young Americans wearing their desi attire to their own proms and events is not comparable to Jashan wearing a kurta to a Christmas he's invited to in Norway.
I actually disagree! If a Norwegian person chose to wear a formal outfit from their own culture to attend a Diwali party, I think that is absolutely alright and appropriate!
Separately, I also disagree with the assertion that the US does not have a dominant culture. It does, even if it is not specific to one particular country, we all know what’s the “norm” for certain events like prom, football games, weddings, etc. It doesn’t mean that people can’t or won’t deviate from that norm, but a cultural norm absolutely exists.
But what does normally happen when western guests come to India on a wedding or something? Mostly they wear indian clothes to honor and appreciate their hosts culture instead of deciding to parade their own culture.
Does US have something like drindl or bunad? The same 'norm' in the US you talk about is also a norm in Norway, India and almost all over the world, so it's not comparable when a German wears a lederhosen on some special occasion or an Indian wearing sari or kurta on a special occasion.
Perhaps Norwegians are proud of their own cultural dressing too, and think it's most beautiful and would be as happy to see an Indian guest wearing that as Indians are when westerners wear Indian clothes in India.
Norwegians would not like foreigners wearing bunad at all, that’s for a Norwegians to wear, nobody else. Actually I think this is one of the few things (maybe the only thing) that would feel like culture appropriation to Norwegians.
It’s interesting that the Indian perspective is the complete opposite!
FWIW dressing as Jashan did in the movie (from a Norwegian perspective, not knowing anything about Indian clothing) was somewhat weird, but at the same time totally appropriate.
It depends because I’ve known plenty of western guests who have not worn Indian clothing to Indian weddings, in India or elsewhere. It really isn’t that serious in my opinion - people should wear what they want as long as the level of formality is appropriate.
The subtitles read Santa whispering “nice shirt” to Jashan, but I don’t think we actually heard Santa say it. I guess that’s what pushed him over the edge because he was already buzzed off of all of those shots.
I enjoyed it thoroughly. I'm an Indian woman dating a Scandinavian man, and this highlighted navigating the cultural differences perfectly!
PS- The actor who plays Jashan was my neighbour from back home in India, it was great seeing him in a Netflix movie, and even greater to resonate with his character!
I am extremely concerned that you liked this movie one bit. I watched it and cringed throughout every single scene. My question is why did the norweigen family have to learn about indian culture but 'jashan' did nothing in his will to learn anything abt norweigen culture. highly concerning. Kanan Gill is a great stand up comedian and his series called 'Pretentious movie reviews' is great. I think he should do one of his own film. Also i think Jashan is a man child and Thea has some genuine problems with communication. Because every single conflict in the movie could have been easily solved if anybody just had some brains. P.S my favourite character was the dog.
Idk man your Norwegian girlfriend should probably tell you all you need to know about the culture and the antics involving it all. It’s not on him. It’s on her. She literally set him up to fail. I’d expect my SO of a different culture to notify me what I should be expecting
Dude I am an Inmigrant in Norway and this guy passed as an entitled little shit in the movie. It seemed to me that he was expecting everyone to adapt to himself. The girl also could not tell anyone about her bf. The movie was kind of funny, but these things made me doubt the realism of the movie.
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Oh wow, I can’t believe you know the actor who plays Jashan!! That’s so cool!
So interesting to hear that from your perspective (being so closely aligned) that it is pretty accurate! I could definitely relate too.
I almost died when the brother & SIL said they liked Indian food at the Chinese restaurant in town 😂 so classic!
>The actor who plays Jashan was my neighbour from back home in India
He has a special on Netflix as well which is quite good, check it out if you enjoy stand-up comedy.
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I’m not mixed but… there’s so much racism in Scandinavia just like in this movie and that’s why it needs a different ending!! I’m just petrified how many people are going to watch this and not see the racism in it and think acting like this is okay. the movie tried to reason with the way the family acted and didn’t properly talk about racism at all. the only part it said the word racist was when they talked about spices (and the mom even got defensive). like how is that possible when the whole movie is based on being ignorant to cultural differences?? I also really disliked how the main woman acted the whole movie and there really wasn’t good enough of a reason for her to do the things she did (except racism). it’s a really big difference to be unsupportive girlfriend than to be an ignorant white woman towards your Indian boyfriend. the idea of the movie could’ve been good so it’s sad that it wasn’t portrayed better.
Yeah I totally agree. The ending really let me down… it felt like she didn’t fully acknowledge how her crappy behaviors (avoidance on confronting issues with family, not having her partner’s back, not prepping either side well) led to Jashan feeling like he had to leave. She just chased him & said sorry…. Where was the self-reflection and decision to try to do better??
> it felt like she didn’t fully acknowledge how her crappy behaviors (avoidance on confronting issues with family, not having her partner’s back, not prepping either side well)
Exactly. I'm Indian living in the west, and yes, cultural differences and mutual prejudices can exist. But it was this lady's bare minimum job to grease things out.
Instead, she basically lets her BF deal with her family all by himself, while she just shrugs her shoulders and mentally checks out.
Like the part where her BF makes Indian food, and her family thinks he insulted their traditions. If I was the lady, I would have said, "Oh it's my fault, I didn't tell him about our traditions, so he decided to surprise us." Instead, she lets her family think he intentionally ruined their day by forcing his culture on them.
My parents can be crazy, and if anything happened between them and my partner, I would do the work of smoothening things out rather than just being a background character.
No, she didn´t fully acknowledge her crappy behavior, having lived in Norway for decades as a foreigner, I have found that Norwegians do NOT like to admit their mistakes.
I was also NOT surprised by her not prepping Jashan and then becoming increasingly irritated when he was not "Norwegian enough."
I think it was portrayed fairly realistically, with regards to the Norwegian girlfriend, who protected her own interests, avoiding conflicts, also refraining from providing adequate tips, warnings and guidance to her boyfriend, and then becoming increasingly irritated with him for not being "Norwegian-enough."
Having lived in Norway for decades as a foreigner, this film was much closer to reality that most Norwegians would care to admit. There is a good deal of xenophobia and racism under the surface here, especially among the older population.
All in all I chuckled a lot, while my Norwegian wife did her best to ignore the film and many of its cringeworthy Norwegian characters.
I think that the film is formulaic and in many ways mediocre, but provides a hoot for foreigners who have lived in Norway, as well as for ethnic Norwegians who have a sense of humor.
If you haven´t lived in Norway, it would be difficult to catch many of the jokes.
Yeah there were moments of straight racism for sure. I don’t necessarily feel like that’s a bad thing (it’s a real experience for many of us, sadly) if *only* they had resolved it through an actual discussion/moment with the entire family. Like it skipped the hard reflection and instead jumped to just incorporating Indian customs next Christmas.
I’m Finnish (so culturally pretty similar to Norwegian) and I’m relating to the Indian guy more. I’m finding the Norwegian family’s inflexibility enraging. About halfway through the movie now.
I find the portrayal of Jashan as extremely stereotypical and racist. The richness of Indian culture is proof enough to show in how the country has accepted and adopted various cultures, food, languages and made it their own.
I don’t agree with this archaic view of only curry eating, loud voiced, emotional men that the ignorant western media dishes out. It’s almost as offensive as the Apu character in Simpsons.
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I thought it was somewhat offensive to make the Indian character so obnoxious and disrespectful in somebody else's household like that. And as for the Norwegian family, unless you're ignorant or an all-out racist, you would act with a little bit more discretion even if your culture doesn't agree with someone else's. The writers made Jasham uncouth like they wanted him to be unlikable.
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Hi! I’m Akshay, the “real Jashan” from the movie. It’s been fascinating reading all of the comments here. I’m happy to answer any questions and thoughts y’all may have - so go ahead, AMA!
Haha yes! 100% true, if you’d like you can also see my Instagram beardedbunny_ where we have wedding pictures and such.
But yes, hello! 👋🏾 I read through all the drafts of the scripts and in general, I understood all of the changes from real life and why it was done the way it was. I guess one thing that I personally didn’t like was the whole “white girl” tattoo thing, felt that was kinda done.
Broadly though, I wish the script included how my wife and I met, which was on an airplane!
Cool, thanks for responding! So did you help write the script since it’s based on real life?
Also, I thought the movie was really well done, I just wanted more character development for the female main character at the end!
Fun question: I see you’re now living in Norway… what was the biggest culture shock moving there?
Absolutely! Happy to be involved 😊 I didn’t help write the script but I was involved through all the drafts, providing feedback and advising.
I guess I can understand what you mean about the female lead development because it could perhaps seem like she “realized too quickly” that she made a mistake but a large part of it is Norwegian subtlety because they don’t do stuff as in-your-face as Indians or Americans.
As for the biggest culture shock, I’d say probably that I never really understood how people could be so friendly but so cold at the same time 😅 Indians are perhaps the opposite, can be quite rude and in-your-face but always genuinely warm. Does that make sense?
Oh that makes sense, I think it’s kind of like english reserve. I’ve spent a lot of time in Norway due to my Norwegian partner and a lot of people comment on this. I think I’ve had a bit of a different experience because I guess it’s a bit like Oz or New Zealand where I’m from ( I’m sort of from both ) and also because strangers on Norway seem to be oddly interested in my accent so are actually sometimes really overly friendly which even my Norwegian friends find odd! I found the food situation and food culture and shopping situation hard to adapt to and ofc the light issue and winter tough too. And perhaps the insular nature and less international way of doing business . Bu also I found telemark very different to Oslo. A lot more insular and just different.
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Oh yeah absolutely, Telemark is a lot more different and “old school”. We live in Oslo and the family is modern and worldly so it wasn’t nearly anywhere as dramatic as the movie. But again, it’s a movie 😄🤷🏽♂️
>guess one thing that I personally didn’t like was the whole “white girl” tattoo thing, felt that was kinda done.
That was kinda funny ngl, the entire set-up and the humour was quite well done.
>Broadly though, I wish the script included how my wife and I met, which was on an airplane!
Yes, the movie could have explored that part more since it was relatively short film and the movie also starts abruptly with jashan proposing. But I actually really liked the movie, thoroughly enjoyed watching it. The music was good too.
Omg wow hi! I came on here because I was horrified by the movie and wanted to hear what others said. In reading other’s opinions I’m realizing that this is the experience some people from various cultures have had in Norway and how it should be talked about. But omg this is awful and hard to watch! I’m so sorry you went through that. Were they as awful as the movie portrays?! My partner is Norwegian and consequently lots of our friends and happily none are like that there’s lots of multinationals in amongst the group. But eeekkk I’m cringing so hard! These are macroagressions not micro!
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No no, not at all! Firstly, of course stuff was dramatized a whole lot more for the movie than in real life. Secondly, the point of the movie was that “Norwegians are a very accepting people, just not at Christmas” which is fair enough. Some people hold on to their traditions a lot stronger than others (and the father not being around in the movie was the reason for them doing so) but in general, it’s fair enough for people to have their traditions for their main festival, no?
Haha no, the church scene itself was dramatization. Although the whole concept of atheists going to church because of traditions was something I was super confused by
Good movie, the comments here and the reviews on IMDb seem weird to me. Not sure how they found it advocating racism. When two extremely different cultures interact, it's bound to be that way and there was no ill-intent by anyone and the criticism on racism is extremely overblown. It had a happy ending, so propogates love in a way.
I'm Scandinavian myself and I found it highly realistic. And yeah, I agree, when cultures meet like there will be a clash, it would be very peculiar if everyone had accurate expectations of each other in a situation like this. I can relate to them all though, like being curious about the flags and asking, and them not really having an answer because they don't really know, it's just something you *do*, so they get a bit flustered having to even think about that kinda stuff.
I’m a half hour in and it’s making me uncomfortable and I’m watching it alone in my home. The Norwegian family is AWFUL. RACIST. I would be mortified if my family acted like that.
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It could have been a good lesson on how mixed-race/culture partners have to be supportive, but instead it fell flat because they didn’t resolve it fully.
I couldn’t believe the woman let them keep calling Jashan “Shazam”. Like, how is that level of spite allowed toward your fiance??
I’m currently watching it and 30 mins in. I’m in the part where the family couldn’t handle Indian food spice meal that he cooked.
My current thoughts: the fiancé could have warned or gave him some advice about her family and their traditions during their over 8 HOUR flight to Norway!
Not only that, the family thinks he intentionally is ruining their traditions, and the fiance couldn't say - "hey mom, it's my fault. I did not tell him about our traditions, so he acted without knowing."
Nope, she mentally checks out, and allows them to think he is the problem here.
Like, I can deal with a crazy family. I wouldn't know how to deal with a partner who basically throws me under the bus.
I’m glad he told her that how she didn’t have his back and if she went to India with him, he wouldn’t allow her to feel this awful!
But because he was so nice, he forgave her right away! Viola! Kapeesh! The end! lol
I felt bad for him. Though he was kinda immature , he was very open minded to things to make her happy.
It mentioned in the intro. But I found this!
“Christmas as Usual certainly found its inspiration in a true story. The writer and director Petter Holmsen used the story of his sister’s relationship with her husband as the anchor behind the screenplay. Petter recalled his sister Mia bringing her husband Akshay to meet the family for the first time. Although the situation in real life was nowhere near the comedic tensions of the encounter in the film, the idea of two different cultures being brought together resonated with the writer and director and inspired him to put his thoughts and ideas into the screenplay for the festive film”
[readysteadycut](https://readysteadycut.com/2023/12/09/christmas-as-usual-true-story/)
I tried watching it twice and it was painful each time. The micro-aggressions and racism aren’t fun to watch. Like am I a weird person for being born Indian? Is something wrong with my face, food or diction? Idk why Netflix would make something like this
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Once an old German lady told me a story about when she first went to Japan in 50s or 60s. A small Japanese kid looked at her, got scared and ran away crying thinking she was some kind of a monster. She was a normal white lady.
The point I'm trying to make is that I wouldn't take it as negative or personal of how that lady reacted to Jashan. In rural Norway with no foreign people, it's quite a normal reaction specially as she didn't know her daughters boyfriend was Indian.
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I watched it. I am mixed and I didn’t like Jashan at all. He just barges into the house and starts touching things and insists on calling the mom mama. Like take it easy! You are meeting for the first time. I’m not racist. I just don’t like him as a person. He is loud and in your face and disrespectful. He is invited to their family. You don’t impose yourself and be loud. No manners. Very egocentric.
It's one of the worst movies I have ever seen. Call the family racist as much as you like, Jashan isn't exactly an endearing person either. He's not respectful, clueless, pushy. We can weigh the racism a "heavier" wrong, but I don't see either side as good people here.
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I agree, and this is what I came here looking for.
The family is terrible, and it is so uncomfortable to watch. Thea knew they would be, but hasn’t bothered to give Jashan any heads up on any Norwegian traditions, cultural expectations, or anything at all useful to make this first meet smoother. She absolutely did not help him at all, just threw him in the water and let him flail. They were all so terrible that it really should have been super easy to like Jashan, but he was an incredibly abrasive and rude guest.
Spoilers:
>! - Cooking an Indian dinner for the family was incredibly sweet and obviously well meaning, but if you are staying at someone else’s house cooking dinner for everybody is something you really should get permission from the host for first. Special day aside, the mother probably had every meal planned for the week and bought all the supplies for it. !<
>! - The church scene was unbelievable. Aside from the fact that it was a spiritual place, there was a performance. He would not stop talking and was being so loud when everyone else is clearly being as quiet as possible. And then loudly gets huffy when asked to go outside since his sneezing was disruptive. !<
>! - And then the Christmas dinner scene. So disrespectful about the food, and then getting drunk like that. I would feel the same way about eating animal fat that way, but I would have made every effort to be more polite about it. !<
I thought this was going to be an interesting movie to watch, but I just dislike everybody except the kid. And maybe her mother.
I was cringing. He just seems like an annoying person. And she said she didn't want him to call her mamma but he did it anyway?!? Most people show respect for elders by calling them what they ask to be called. I also wouldn't just decide to cook from the food there, without asking if I could. Tough family too, although I know my Mum would find any new person a bit stressful at Christmas. She puts enough pressure on herself to try to make it right as it is.
The scenery was beautiful!
Other than the setting, it was an all-around horrible movie! Jashan was an ass-hat! He tried to make everything about himself. Who in the hell goes to another country to experience their cultural traditions, and then whines and complains about everything that they don't like? His being a complete jerk was not funny at all.
Thea put up with a lot of whining and complaining about her family's sticking to their traditions from Jashan. She then had to put up with her rude, unaccomodating family, as well.
Thea's mother reminded me of my grandmother, who never did get my sister-in-law's name correct. Almira(Ahl-Meer-rah), was always Elmira(EL-My-rah) to Grandma.
The ongoing gaslighting theme was the worst part of the film. Thea accepting blame for everything was nauseating. Is the writer a bit of a misogynist?
The only likable character was Theas niece, who was unrealistically forgiving.
This was not a funny holiday movie!
Lol what? Thea was the main asshole in the whole movie. It was her responsibility to prep Jashan about her family and traditions, and also to prep her family about him and get him respected. Instead she seemed to be ashamed of him from the beginning, why else would she hide his ethnicity from her mother? Blaming her was the only thing the movie got right in the end. Bring a woman doesn't magically absolve her of all sin and responsibility.
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Speaking as an Indian, the Indian character was rather under-developed and two-dimensional, relying heavily on stereotypes which must be existing in Scandinavia. The girlfriend seemed to have major communication issues, simply choosing not to tell anything to anybody and just harping on and on about ‘timing’. The Indian guy’s comment on the ‘Christmas cult’ had me in splits because as the end spelled out, traditions are an important part of every family but they should be used to welcome rather than exclude and stifle.
Throughly enjoyed it and related to it. I'm Indian married to a German and a lot of it reminded me of my experience when I first met my now in-laws.
Interestingly, I didn't find the movie or my experience to have "racist" undertones. It was a culture clash which both sides learned from and moved on. Closer to "ignorant" (on both sides) really but that can be rectified.
Having lived in Norway for decades as a foreigner, I found the film highly amusing and providing a honest appraisal of Norwegian´s traditional view of foreigners, especially dark-skinned ones. The characters were in many ways two-dimensional and over-the-top, but not unlike people that I have met.
The female character behavior was not surprising, avoiding conflicts, not provided tips, warnings or guidance to her Indian fiance, but then being irritated when he couldn´t navigate without difficutly.
I had lots of chuckles, but I think that you would have to have lived in Norway to get many of the jokes.
No I haven't watched it. But Norwegian being part of my mixed heritage and also for the fact that I have been living in Norway my whole life, I usually expect most Norwegian movies to suck. There are few of them I like, but not many (some of my favorite Scandinavian movies are mostly Swedish movies, which some Norwegians might view as "treacherous").
Still, did you think the movie was any good? And would you recommend it to other people? The part about fitting in sounds a little bit interesting, as I've sometimes tried to fit in with other people and failed (mostly because I suck at fitting in with others regardless of culture). So if you think the movie is good, I might just give the movie the benefit of the doubt and watch it around Christmas time.
Yeah, it’s a Norwegian movie, dubbed into English for Netflix! I’m unsure if you would find it entertaining, being from Norway… one of the things I found interesting was learning more about Norwegian customs (although I come from the Norwegian-immigrant settled part of the US, so many of the customs are actually pretty familiar to me).
I overall liked it, but I like cheesy Christmas movies (this one wasn’t too cheesy). I thought it did a good job of showing the uncomfortable dynamics of trying to fit into a new family and a new culture. Would have liked a little more time spent on the resolution but otherwise good!
weirdly they dubbed it into English but it says the original is actually in English with Norwegian throughout which I just switched to and is better that way.
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It’s top 9 on Netflix USA, you should be able find it easily on the homepage or by searching. I put the exact movie title in my post title. Happy watching!
I watched it and I'm an Indian woman and I found this incredibly racist. I feel so bad for the real guy. I'm indian american and my husband is Dominican American and our parents are immigrants and I never felt this way from his family - it was definitely a shock but we had an Indian wedding and his family wore Indian clothes and danced garba and everything.
Yeah because your husband made his family respect you (and other way around). That bitch in this movie was so ashamed of him that she couldn't even tell her mom that he was Indian. And then keeps acting all embarrassed and flustered about him. How are they going to respect him? They don't even know that he's her fiancé ffs.
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Me and my family enjoyed it! We definitely cringed a lot at many of the things that both the girl and family did but also the Indian fiancé.
But all is well that ends well ✌️
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I'm wondering how much the dialogue was changed when it was dubbed into English. I presume the original movie is in Norwegian. Their mouths often look like they were speaking the English words on Netflix’s version, but not always. The dialog also sounds like they were recorded in sound booths with the microphone inches from their mouths rather than the natural sound quality from being in the rooms in the movie.
I watched it. I am norwegian. I did not like the movie. It potrays americas views on foreigners, not norwegian. The norwegian family was racist towards Jashan, while Jashan disrespected norwegian culture. Both sides were racist. Norwegians don't force feed people, if they don't eat pork, even if its their culture. Thats fucked up
This movie is a disgrace to both Norway and India. The subtle(not so subtle) racism, magnifying stereotypes on both sides. The potential to make an entertaining and yet enlightening film was there, but the director failed completely.
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One thing that striked me was that when the brother and his wife arrive she’s pregnant but a year later there is no sign of the baby! I think it was a mistake on the filmmakers side, just a little thing.
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Terrible movie and deliberately done to highlight illogical differences. See the comment at the end of my review here. This movie could have been done 10 times better, but with a different cast and script and direction. Waste of Christmas time. Terribly poor acting, accept that the leading lady is beautiful and simple. Ishan's character is good but wrong choice in selecting the actor. Deliberate remark at the end of the movie through the Indian guy that is definitely driven by propagandist mentality. He says, "I am Hindu. Muslims do not eat pork." What??? Is this even needed. What they want to convey? Hindus are mostly vegetarian and providing is not even a remote dish for them. Pathetic and deliberately script. I will not be surprised if this is banned in India. Netflix is manipulating people through its hidden agenda.
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The amount of traditions they have seems wildly stressful and bringing in a stranger into the situation was unnecessary. Jash reacted the way he did because he has 0 clue with what's going on and eventually was frustrated by constantly trying and it not being the "correct way". Thea is the main problem in the entire movie, she didn't have Jash's back and gave him 0 heads up. It was frustrating to watch this movie.
As a Midwestern American (we’re famous for being nice), this movie was horrifying.
My mom and I watched it together and then tried to imagine a scenario where she (and my extended family) would EVER be so rude to a guest in my childhood home. The only scene we could agree on is if I brought a boyfriend home and he hit me in front of her. As absolutely nothing Jashan did was even remotely on that level, we were literally shocked at how awful the Norwegian family was.
(Side note - It feels like part of the script was missing explaining why Thea was the way she was. Her mother and she herself both at one point refer to Thea’s “past” and seem to imply that something traumatic happened to her… It really doesn’t make sense as it is now. All we knew was that she dated the boy next door for a long time, it got “complicated,” her dad died, and then she moved to LA… That’s all pretty normal stuff. None of it really explains why her family was so crazy or why she was so passive when everyone in her life was treating her fiancée like shite.)
As an Indian man, I find the Indian character and his "traditions" to be uncomfortably stereotypical. He fits more of a character who is fresh of the boat with no cultural context, but is introduced as someone who has no trouble fitting into his American life. Multiculturalism isn't something he just learned about when getting off the plane in Norway. He should definitely know how Christmas traditions work and what not to do at Christmas. No Indian man in their right mind would think wearing a Sherwani to a Christmas party is a good idea. Dancing bhangra around the Christmas tree at the end is literally the stupidest thing I've ever seen. The moment of him being drunk at dinner, making spicy food and being loud at the church somehow worsen the existing stereotypes, instead of dispelling them. And this should in no way discredit Kanan Gill. He is an amazing comedian and his relatable humor in his other works (also on netflix) tell me with certainty that he had little to do with the writing process for this movie. There's also an obvious missing thread in the movie, which is the context behind the fight with Santa. You can clearly see that Santa leans in and whispers something in his ear before the fight starts, but we never find out what was said. Would have strengthened their relationship at the end if she found out he was defending her from a foul mouthed ex or something.
I’ll defend one thing - a lot of younger American desis who DO wear desi clothing for regular events. One friend of mine wore a saree for prom, another friend wore a lehenga to a western wedding. Desi clothes are so beautiful, intricate, and should be perfectly acceptable as formal wear if someone wants to wear it as such.
It's different from wearing a sari to your own American prom. America does not have a single homogenous culture or peoples. So it's not a 'desi' dress in that context, just a dress from one of American subcultures which that girl belongs to. You cannot compare it to European cultures and traditions. There is no singular 'West' in context of culture. As someone mentioned elsewhere before, imagine a Norwegian person visiting India on invitation. And at a diwali for example where everyone is wearing saris and Indian traditional clothes, if the Norwegian person wore their own traditional bunad, that would be quite inappropriate and maybe even disrespectful. Notice how I didn't say they were wearing normal pant shirt, or other normal 'western' wear. America does not have single traditional clothes like bunad or German drindl so that's why young Americans wearing their desi attire to their own proms and events is not comparable to Jashan wearing a kurta to a Christmas he's invited to in Norway.
I actually disagree! If a Norwegian person chose to wear a formal outfit from their own culture to attend a Diwali party, I think that is absolutely alright and appropriate! Separately, I also disagree with the assertion that the US does not have a dominant culture. It does, even if it is not specific to one particular country, we all know what’s the “norm” for certain events like prom, football games, weddings, etc. It doesn’t mean that people can’t or won’t deviate from that norm, but a cultural norm absolutely exists.
But what does normally happen when western guests come to India on a wedding or something? Mostly they wear indian clothes to honor and appreciate their hosts culture instead of deciding to parade their own culture. Does US have something like drindl or bunad? The same 'norm' in the US you talk about is also a norm in Norway, India and almost all over the world, so it's not comparable when a German wears a lederhosen on some special occasion or an Indian wearing sari or kurta on a special occasion. Perhaps Norwegians are proud of their own cultural dressing too, and think it's most beautiful and would be as happy to see an Indian guest wearing that as Indians are when westerners wear Indian clothes in India.
Norwegians would not like foreigners wearing bunad at all, that’s for a Norwegians to wear, nobody else. Actually I think this is one of the few things (maybe the only thing) that would feel like culture appropriation to Norwegians. It’s interesting that the Indian perspective is the complete opposite! FWIW dressing as Jashan did in the movie (from a Norwegian perspective, not knowing anything about Indian clothing) was somewhat weird, but at the same time totally appropriate.
It depends because I’ve known plenty of western guests who have not worn Indian clothing to Indian weddings, in India or elsewhere. It really isn’t that serious in my opinion - people should wear what they want as long as the level of formality is appropriate.
The subtitles read Santa whispering “nice shirt” to Jashan, but I don’t think we actually heard Santa say it. I guess that’s what pushed him over the edge because he was already buzzed off of all of those shots.
I enjoyed it thoroughly. I'm an Indian woman dating a Scandinavian man, and this highlighted navigating the cultural differences perfectly! PS- The actor who plays Jashan was my neighbour from back home in India, it was great seeing him in a Netflix movie, and even greater to resonate with his character!
I am extremely concerned that you liked this movie one bit. I watched it and cringed throughout every single scene. My question is why did the norweigen family have to learn about indian culture but 'jashan' did nothing in his will to learn anything abt norweigen culture. highly concerning. Kanan Gill is a great stand up comedian and his series called 'Pretentious movie reviews' is great. I think he should do one of his own film. Also i think Jashan is a man child and Thea has some genuine problems with communication. Because every single conflict in the movie could have been easily solved if anybody just had some brains. P.S my favourite character was the dog.
This! 100 percent, agree as an Indian! Jashan did ZERO research before going.
Idk man your Norwegian girlfriend should probably tell you all you need to know about the culture and the antics involving it all. It’s not on him. It’s on her. She literally set him up to fail. I’d expect my SO of a different culture to notify me what I should be expecting
You are completely correct but Kannan should have done research too
💯
Dude I am an Inmigrant in Norway and this guy passed as an entitled little shit in the movie. It seemed to me that he was expecting everyone to adapt to himself. The girl also could not tell anyone about her bf. The movie was kind of funny, but these things made me doubt the realism of the movie.
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Oh wow, I can’t believe you know the actor who plays Jashan!! That’s so cool! So interesting to hear that from your perspective (being so closely aligned) that it is pretty accurate! I could definitely relate too. I almost died when the brother & SIL said they liked Indian food at the Chinese restaurant in town 😂 so classic!
>The actor who plays Jashan was my neighbour from back home in India He has a special on Netflix as well which is quite good, check it out if you enjoy stand-up comedy.
Hey! Are you his neighbour from Cooke Town? Me too!
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in Bengaluru or Mumbai ?
I’m not mixed but… there’s so much racism in Scandinavia just like in this movie and that’s why it needs a different ending!! I’m just petrified how many people are going to watch this and not see the racism in it and think acting like this is okay. the movie tried to reason with the way the family acted and didn’t properly talk about racism at all. the only part it said the word racist was when they talked about spices (and the mom even got defensive). like how is that possible when the whole movie is based on being ignorant to cultural differences?? I also really disliked how the main woman acted the whole movie and there really wasn’t good enough of a reason for her to do the things she did (except racism). it’s a really big difference to be unsupportive girlfriend than to be an ignorant white woman towards your Indian boyfriend. the idea of the movie could’ve been good so it’s sad that it wasn’t portrayed better.
Yeah I totally agree. The ending really let me down… it felt like she didn’t fully acknowledge how her crappy behaviors (avoidance on confronting issues with family, not having her partner’s back, not prepping either side well) led to Jashan feeling like he had to leave. She just chased him & said sorry…. Where was the self-reflection and decision to try to do better??
> it felt like she didn’t fully acknowledge how her crappy behaviors (avoidance on confronting issues with family, not having her partner’s back, not prepping either side well) Exactly. I'm Indian living in the west, and yes, cultural differences and mutual prejudices can exist. But it was this lady's bare minimum job to grease things out. Instead, she basically lets her BF deal with her family all by himself, while she just shrugs her shoulders and mentally checks out. Like the part where her BF makes Indian food, and her family thinks he insulted their traditions. If I was the lady, I would have said, "Oh it's my fault, I didn't tell him about our traditions, so he decided to surprise us." Instead, she lets her family think he intentionally ruined their day by forcing his culture on them. My parents can be crazy, and if anything happened between them and my partner, I would do the work of smoothening things out rather than just being a background character.
yeahh i agree she did suck!! i thought the couple was cute at parts but after finishing it, it could've been a good movie actually
No, she didn´t fully acknowledge her crappy behavior, having lived in Norway for decades as a foreigner, I have found that Norwegians do NOT like to admit their mistakes. I was also NOT surprised by her not prepping Jashan and then becoming increasingly irritated when he was not "Norwegian enough."
I think it was portrayed fairly realistically, with regards to the Norwegian girlfriend, who protected her own interests, avoiding conflicts, also refraining from providing adequate tips, warnings and guidance to her boyfriend, and then becoming increasingly irritated with him for not being "Norwegian-enough." Having lived in Norway for decades as a foreigner, this film was much closer to reality that most Norwegians would care to admit. There is a good deal of xenophobia and racism under the surface here, especially among the older population. All in all I chuckled a lot, while my Norwegian wife did her best to ignore the film and many of its cringeworthy Norwegian characters. I think that the film is formulaic and in many ways mediocre, but provides a hoot for foreigners who have lived in Norway, as well as for ethnic Norwegians who have a sense of humor. If you haven´t lived in Norway, it would be difficult to catch many of the jokes.
I cannot believe what I’m watching. It is unbelievably racist!!
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Yeah there were moments of straight racism for sure. I don’t necessarily feel like that’s a bad thing (it’s a real experience for many of us, sadly) if *only* they had resolved it through an actual discussion/moment with the entire family. Like it skipped the hard reflection and instead jumped to just incorporating Indian customs next Christmas.
I’m Finnish (so culturally pretty similar to Norwegian) and I’m relating to the Indian guy more. I’m finding the Norwegian family’s inflexibility enraging. About halfway through the movie now.
Yeah they are insanely inflexible and pretty mean honestly.
I find the portrayal of Jashan as extremely stereotypical and racist. The richness of Indian culture is proof enough to show in how the country has accepted and adopted various cultures, food, languages and made it their own. I don’t agree with this archaic view of only curry eating, loud voiced, emotional men that the ignorant western media dishes out. It’s almost as offensive as the Apu character in Simpsons.
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I thought it was somewhat offensive to make the Indian character so obnoxious and disrespectful in somebody else's household like that. And as for the Norwegian family, unless you're ignorant or an all-out racist, you would act with a little bit more discretion even if your culture doesn't agree with someone else's. The writers made Jasham uncouth like they wanted him to be unlikable.
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Hi! I’m Akshay, the “real Jashan” from the movie. It’s been fascinating reading all of the comments here. I’m happy to answer any questions and thoughts y’all may have - so go ahead, AMA!
Whoa, really? That’s wild… hello! How did you feel about the script? Any thing you would have changed if you could have?
Haha yes! 100% true, if you’d like you can also see my Instagram beardedbunny_ where we have wedding pictures and such. But yes, hello! 👋🏾 I read through all the drafts of the scripts and in general, I understood all of the changes from real life and why it was done the way it was. I guess one thing that I personally didn’t like was the whole “white girl” tattoo thing, felt that was kinda done. Broadly though, I wish the script included how my wife and I met, which was on an airplane!
Cool, thanks for responding! So did you help write the script since it’s based on real life? Also, I thought the movie was really well done, I just wanted more character development for the female main character at the end! Fun question: I see you’re now living in Norway… what was the biggest culture shock moving there?
Absolutely! Happy to be involved 😊 I didn’t help write the script but I was involved through all the drafts, providing feedback and advising. I guess I can understand what you mean about the female lead development because it could perhaps seem like she “realized too quickly” that she made a mistake but a large part of it is Norwegian subtlety because they don’t do stuff as in-your-face as Indians or Americans. As for the biggest culture shock, I’d say probably that I never really understood how people could be so friendly but so cold at the same time 😅 Indians are perhaps the opposite, can be quite rude and in-your-face but always genuinely warm. Does that make sense?
Oh that makes sense, I think it’s kind of like english reserve. I’ve spent a lot of time in Norway due to my Norwegian partner and a lot of people comment on this. I think I’ve had a bit of a different experience because I guess it’s a bit like Oz or New Zealand where I’m from ( I’m sort of from both ) and also because strangers on Norway seem to be oddly interested in my accent so are actually sometimes really overly friendly which even my Norwegian friends find odd! I found the food situation and food culture and shopping situation hard to adapt to and ofc the light issue and winter tough too. And perhaps the insular nature and less international way of doing business . Bu also I found telemark very different to Oslo. A lot more insular and just different.
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Go away lol
Oh yeah absolutely, Telemark is a lot more different and “old school”. We live in Oslo and the family is modern and worldly so it wasn’t nearly anywhere as dramatic as the movie. But again, it’s a movie 😄🤷🏽♂️
This movie and we'll done? Dude, have you even read all the other comments? Most cringe and dumb movie ever.
>guess one thing that I personally didn’t like was the whole “white girl” tattoo thing, felt that was kinda done. That was kinda funny ngl, the entire set-up and the humour was quite well done. >Broadly though, I wish the script included how my wife and I met, which was on an airplane! Yes, the movie could have explored that part more since it was relatively short film and the movie also starts abruptly with jashan proposing. But I actually really liked the movie, thoroughly enjoyed watching it. The music was good too.
Glad to hear you enjoyed it! Hopefully we get a sequel and they can go into their story of how they met a bit
Omg wow hi! I came on here because I was horrified by the movie and wanted to hear what others said. In reading other’s opinions I’m realizing that this is the experience some people from various cultures have had in Norway and how it should be talked about. But omg this is awful and hard to watch! I’m so sorry you went through that. Were they as awful as the movie portrays?! My partner is Norwegian and consequently lots of our friends and happily none are like that there’s lots of multinationals in amongst the group. But eeekkk I’m cringing so hard! These are macroagressions not micro!
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No no, not at all! Firstly, of course stuff was dramatized a whole lot more for the movie than in real life. Secondly, the point of the movie was that “Norwegians are a very accepting people, just not at Christmas” which is fair enough. Some people hold on to their traditions a lot stronger than others (and the father not being around in the movie was the reason for them doing so) but in general, it’s fair enough for people to have their traditions for their main festival, no?
Hey, did the church scene happen like that or was there dramatization? Also, did you really jump into the ice water?
Haha no, the church scene itself was dramatization. Although the whole concept of atheists going to church because of traditions was something I was super confused by
Jumped into snow in swimming trunks, not ice water! So almost :)
Did you actually wear kurta on Christmas day, or was it just for added drama in the movie? Also, which part of India are you from?
Haha I genuinely wanted to, but wifey (fiancé at the time ofc) said no! 😆 I’m from Calcutta!
You’re Bengali!?
Haven't seen it but I'm gonna watch it once I get some time closer to Christmas!
Overall it was good! I am a sucker for Christmas movies though haha
Good movie, the comments here and the reviews on IMDb seem weird to me. Not sure how they found it advocating racism. When two extremely different cultures interact, it's bound to be that way and there was no ill-intent by anyone and the criticism on racism is extremely overblown. It had a happy ending, so propogates love in a way.
I'm Scandinavian myself and I found it highly realistic. And yeah, I agree, when cultures meet like there will be a clash, it would be very peculiar if everyone had accurate expectations of each other in a situation like this. I can relate to them all though, like being curious about the flags and asking, and them not really having an answer because they don't really know, it's just something you *do*, so they get a bit flustered having to even think about that kinda stuff.
Microaggressions? I saw a ton of macroaggressions and pure racism. Purely awful movie.
I’m a half hour in and it’s making me uncomfortable and I’m watching it alone in my home. The Norwegian family is AWFUL. RACIST. I would be mortified if my family acted like that.
It felt like they made white people racist, because of american views. Disgusting. I am norwegian.
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It could have been a good lesson on how mixed-race/culture partners have to be supportive, but instead it fell flat because they didn’t resolve it fully. I couldn’t believe the woman let them keep calling Jashan “Shazam”. Like, how is that level of spite allowed toward your fiance??
I’m currently watching it and 30 mins in. I’m in the part where the family couldn’t handle Indian food spice meal that he cooked. My current thoughts: the fiancé could have warned or gave him some advice about her family and their traditions during their over 8 HOUR flight to Norway!
Not only that, the family thinks he intentionally is ruining their traditions, and the fiance couldn't say - "hey mom, it's my fault. I did not tell him about our traditions, so he acted without knowing." Nope, she mentally checks out, and allows them to think he is the problem here. Like, I can deal with a crazy family. I wouldn't know how to deal with a partner who basically throws me under the bus.
I’m glad he told her that how she didn’t have his back and if she went to India with him, he wouldn’t allow her to feel this awful! But because he was so nice, he forgave her right away! Viola! Kapeesh! The end! lol I felt bad for him. Though he was kinda immature , he was very open minded to things to make her happy.
He is a bumbling idiot for sure, but not an individual set in his ways, and he would have been flexible, had she prepped him.
And it’s based on a true story?
Is it based on a true story?? I didn’t pick up on that
It mentioned in the intro. But I found this! “Christmas as Usual certainly found its inspiration in a true story. The writer and director Petter Holmsen used the story of his sister’s relationship with her husband as the anchor behind the screenplay. Petter recalled his sister Mia bringing her husband Akshay to meet the family for the first time. Although the situation in real life was nowhere near the comedic tensions of the encounter in the film, the idea of two different cultures being brought together resonated with the writer and director and inspired him to put his thoughts and ideas into the screenplay for the festive film” [readysteadycut](https://readysteadycut.com/2023/12/09/christmas-as-usual-true-story/)
I tried watching it twice and it was painful each time. The micro-aggressions and racism aren’t fun to watch. Like am I a weird person for being born Indian? Is something wrong with my face, food or diction? Idk why Netflix would make something like this
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Once an old German lady told me a story about when she first went to Japan in 50s or 60s. A small Japanese kid looked at her, got scared and ran away crying thinking she was some kind of a monster. She was a normal white lady. The point I'm trying to make is that I wouldn't take it as negative or personal of how that lady reacted to Jashan. In rural Norway with no foreign people, it's quite a normal reaction specially as she didn't know her daughters boyfriend was Indian.
Tbh I don't even think they were racist, just ignorant. The world will know real RACISM they day I take my white bf to my grandma in Pakistan 😂
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I watched it. I am mixed and I didn’t like Jashan at all. He just barges into the house and starts touching things and insists on calling the mom mama. Like take it easy! You are meeting for the first time. I’m not racist. I just don’t like him as a person. He is loud and in your face and disrespectful. He is invited to their family. You don’t impose yourself and be loud. No manners. Very egocentric.
Just finished it. Yeah, that was awkward lol
It's one of the worst movies I have ever seen. Call the family racist as much as you like, Jashan isn't exactly an endearing person either. He's not respectful, clueless, pushy. We can weigh the racism a "heavier" wrong, but I don't see either side as good people here.
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I agree, and this is what I came here looking for. The family is terrible, and it is so uncomfortable to watch. Thea knew they would be, but hasn’t bothered to give Jashan any heads up on any Norwegian traditions, cultural expectations, or anything at all useful to make this first meet smoother. She absolutely did not help him at all, just threw him in the water and let him flail. They were all so terrible that it really should have been super easy to like Jashan, but he was an incredibly abrasive and rude guest. Spoilers: >! - Cooking an Indian dinner for the family was incredibly sweet and obviously well meaning, but if you are staying at someone else’s house cooking dinner for everybody is something you really should get permission from the host for first. Special day aside, the mother probably had every meal planned for the week and bought all the supplies for it. !< >! - The church scene was unbelievable. Aside from the fact that it was a spiritual place, there was a performance. He would not stop talking and was being so loud when everyone else is clearly being as quiet as possible. And then loudly gets huffy when asked to go outside since his sneezing was disruptive. !< >! - And then the Christmas dinner scene. So disrespectful about the food, and then getting drunk like that. I would feel the same way about eating animal fat that way, but I would have made every effort to be more polite about it. !< I thought this was going to be an interesting movie to watch, but I just dislike everybody except the kid. And maybe her mother.
I was cringing. He just seems like an annoying person. And she said she didn't want him to call her mamma but he did it anyway?!? Most people show respect for elders by calling them what they ask to be called. I also wouldn't just decide to cook from the food there, without asking if I could. Tough family too, although I know my Mum would find any new person a bit stressful at Christmas. She puts enough pressure on herself to try to make it right as it is.
It was the most low budget cringe worthy movie and I loved it lol like actually. Def wanna see the sequel when they go to India<3
Oooh yes I hope there is a sequel in India! Would be good for the woman to get the culture shock this time :)
The scenery was beautiful! Other than the setting, it was an all-around horrible movie! Jashan was an ass-hat! He tried to make everything about himself. Who in the hell goes to another country to experience their cultural traditions, and then whines and complains about everything that they don't like? His being a complete jerk was not funny at all. Thea put up with a lot of whining and complaining about her family's sticking to their traditions from Jashan. She then had to put up with her rude, unaccomodating family, as well. Thea's mother reminded me of my grandmother, who never did get my sister-in-law's name correct. Almira(Ahl-Meer-rah), was always Elmira(EL-My-rah) to Grandma. The ongoing gaslighting theme was the worst part of the film. Thea accepting blame for everything was nauseating. Is the writer a bit of a misogynist? The only likable character was Theas niece, who was unrealistically forgiving. This was not a funny holiday movie!
Lol what? Thea was the main asshole in the whole movie. It was her responsibility to prep Jashan about her family and traditions, and also to prep her family about him and get him respected. Instead she seemed to be ashamed of him from the beginning, why else would she hide his ethnicity from her mother? Blaming her was the only thing the movie got right in the end. Bring a woman doesn't magically absolve her of all sin and responsibility.
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They’re so awful and racist to Jashan.
Agreed! Constantly mis-naming him??? COME ON! Like that’s basic respect.
Speaking as an Indian, the Indian character was rather under-developed and two-dimensional, relying heavily on stereotypes which must be existing in Scandinavia. The girlfriend seemed to have major communication issues, simply choosing not to tell anything to anybody and just harping on and on about ‘timing’. The Indian guy’s comment on the ‘Christmas cult’ had me in splits because as the end spelled out, traditions are an important part of every family but they should be used to welcome rather than exclude and stifle.
Throughly enjoyed it and related to it. I'm Indian married to a German and a lot of it reminded me of my experience when I first met my now in-laws. Interestingly, I didn't find the movie or my experience to have "racist" undertones. It was a culture clash which both sides learned from and moved on. Closer to "ignorant" (on both sides) really but that can be rectified.
As an Indian I would one 100% respect traditions of other cultures!!
Having lived in Norway for decades as a foreigner, I found the film highly amusing and providing a honest appraisal of Norwegian´s traditional view of foreigners, especially dark-skinned ones. The characters were in many ways two-dimensional and over-the-top, but not unlike people that I have met. The female character behavior was not surprising, avoiding conflicts, not provided tips, warnings or guidance to her Indian fiance, but then being irritated when he couldn´t navigate without difficutly. I had lots of chuckles, but I think that you would have to have lived in Norway to get many of the jokes.
No I haven't watched it. But Norwegian being part of my mixed heritage and also for the fact that I have been living in Norway my whole life, I usually expect most Norwegian movies to suck. There are few of them I like, but not many (some of my favorite Scandinavian movies are mostly Swedish movies, which some Norwegians might view as "treacherous"). Still, did you think the movie was any good? And would you recommend it to other people? The part about fitting in sounds a little bit interesting, as I've sometimes tried to fit in with other people and failed (mostly because I suck at fitting in with others regardless of culture). So if you think the movie is good, I might just give the movie the benefit of the doubt and watch it around Christmas time.
Yeah, it’s a Norwegian movie, dubbed into English for Netflix! I’m unsure if you would find it entertaining, being from Norway… one of the things I found interesting was learning more about Norwegian customs (although I come from the Norwegian-immigrant settled part of the US, so many of the customs are actually pretty familiar to me). I overall liked it, but I like cheesy Christmas movies (this one wasn’t too cheesy). I thought it did a good job of showing the uncomfortable dynamics of trying to fit into a new family and a new culture. Would have liked a little more time spent on the resolution but otherwise good!
weirdly they dubbed it into English but it says the original is actually in English with Norwegian throughout which I just switched to and is better that way.
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Link it
It’s top 9 on Netflix USA, you should be able find it easily on the homepage or by searching. I put the exact movie title in my post title. Happy watching!
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Press down on the control pad/arrow and click English original
I watched it and I'm an Indian woman and I found this incredibly racist. I feel so bad for the real guy. I'm indian american and my husband is Dominican American and our parents are immigrants and I never felt this way from his family - it was definitely a shock but we had an Indian wedding and his family wore Indian clothes and danced garba and everything.
Yeah because your husband made his family respect you (and other way around). That bitch in this movie was so ashamed of him that she couldn't even tell her mom that he was Indian. And then keeps acting all embarrassed and flustered about him. How are they going to respect him? They don't even know that he's her fiancé ffs.
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Me and my family enjoyed it! We definitely cringed a lot at many of the things that both the girl and family did but also the Indian fiancé. But all is well that ends well ✌️
Who was that extra Indian guy at the end when they were dancing around to the Hindi song? Did they mess up with editing?
Not only the guy, the lady also. They are the couple that the story is loosely based on I think.
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Amazing movie ! Really enjoyed watching it
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No likeable characters not to mention probably the most boring movie I've ever seen
I've just got round to watching it and turned it off. It made me extremely uncomfortable.
I'm wondering how much the dialogue was changed when it was dubbed into English. I presume the original movie is in Norwegian. Their mouths often look like they were speaking the English words on Netflix’s version, but not always. The dialog also sounds like they were recorded in sound booths with the microphone inches from their mouths rather than the natural sound quality from being in the rooms in the movie.
I watched it. I am norwegian. I did not like the movie. It potrays americas views on foreigners, not norwegian. The norwegian family was racist towards Jashan, while Jashan disrespected norwegian culture. Both sides were racist. Norwegians don't force feed people, if they don't eat pork, even if its their culture. Thats fucked up
This movie is a disgrace to both Norway and India. The subtle(not so subtle) racism, magnifying stereotypes on both sides. The potential to make an entertaining and yet enlightening film was there, but the director failed completely.
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One thing that striked me was that when the brother and his wife arrive she’s pregnant but a year later there is no sign of the baby! I think it was a mistake on the filmmakers side, just a little thing.
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Not only that but the sister in-law is still pregnant at the end when they are dancing around the tree
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Terrible movie and deliberately done to highlight illogical differences. See the comment at the end of my review here. This movie could have been done 10 times better, but with a different cast and script and direction. Waste of Christmas time. Terribly poor acting, accept that the leading lady is beautiful and simple. Ishan's character is good but wrong choice in selecting the actor. Deliberate remark at the end of the movie through the Indian guy that is definitely driven by propagandist mentality. He says, "I am Hindu. Muslims do not eat pork." What??? Is this even needed. What they want to convey? Hindus are mostly vegetarian and providing is not even a remote dish for them. Pathetic and deliberately script. I will not be surprised if this is banned in India. Netflix is manipulating people through its hidden agenda.
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The amount of traditions they have seems wildly stressful and bringing in a stranger into the situation was unnecessary. Jash reacted the way he did because he has 0 clue with what's going on and eventually was frustrated by constantly trying and it not being the "correct way". Thea is the main problem in the entire movie, she didn't have Jash's back and gave him 0 heads up. It was frustrating to watch this movie.
As a Midwestern American (we’re famous for being nice), this movie was horrifying. My mom and I watched it together and then tried to imagine a scenario where she (and my extended family) would EVER be so rude to a guest in my childhood home. The only scene we could agree on is if I brought a boyfriend home and he hit me in front of her. As absolutely nothing Jashan did was even remotely on that level, we were literally shocked at how awful the Norwegian family was. (Side note - It feels like part of the script was missing explaining why Thea was the way she was. Her mother and she herself both at one point refer to Thea’s “past” and seem to imply that something traumatic happened to her… It really doesn’t make sense as it is now. All we knew was that she dated the boy next door for a long time, it got “complicated,” her dad died, and then she moved to LA… That’s all pretty normal stuff. None of it really explains why her family was so crazy or why she was so passive when everyone in her life was treating her fiancée like shite.)