How a duplicate apartment created the perfect alibi for a killer

Wars & Conflicts · Published 9 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: In 1980s Bombay, a woman uses a masterfully designed architectural trick to hide a murder. By using two identical apartments separated by only one floor, she ensures that witnesses can swear she was never at the crime scene, even as a body sits just feet away.

Sriram Raghavan directed the 2024 Indian mystery thriller Merry Christmas, a bilingual Hindi-Tamil film inspired by the French novel Le Monte-charge (Bird in a Cage) by Frédéric Dard. The plot centres on Albert Arogyasami, who recently finished a seven-year prison term for killing his lover, Rosie, and finds himself caught in intricate lies involving a woman called Maria.

The film's central mechanism is a sophisticated architectural deception. Maria utilizes two nearly identical apartments located one floor apart. By using the elevator and creating brief distractions, she leads guests into a clean, unsuspecting apartment, while the actual crime scene—containing the body of her husband, Jerome—remains hidden in the apartment directly above. This ensures that any witness can confidently testify to her presence away from the murder.

The narrative reaches a climax when Albert discovers the duplicity and assists Maria in destroying evidence with a chainsaw. However, the plot takes a final twist involving a character named Ronnie, who intentionally leaves his wallet behind to create an excuse to return. In a final subversion of expectations, Albert attempts to take the blame for the crime to protect Maria, leading to a conclusion where the two characters are left in a state of mutual complicity.

The production of the film faced several delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic and various scheduling shifts. Originally announced in December 2021, principal photography moved between Mumbai, Uttar Pradesh, and Chitrakoot, eventually wrapping in mid-January 2023. The film was finally released in theaters on 12 January 2024, receiving positive reviews for the chemistry between leads Katrina Kaif and Vijay Sethupathi.

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