'She's beautiful, senstive, caring': Vijay Sethupathi heaps praise on Katrina Kaif at Merry Christmas PC

After two years of pandemic, 2023 was a year that gave Bollywood some of the biggest blockbusters, Pathaan, Dunki, Jawaan, and Animal. The New Year 2024 will see loads of fresh on-screen pairs. 2024 will see Bollywood exploring various genres. Katrina Kaif is gearing up for Vijay Sethupathi and will be seen next in filmmaker Sriram Raghavan's next — Merry Christmas. The trailer of the film was released last month and the film is nearing its release.

Katrina and Vijay attended a press conference in Mumbai and spoke at length about the film.

In his last Hindi film Jawaan, directed by Atlee, Sethupathi played the antagonist opposite Shah Rukh Khan. The actor recently spoke about why he is attracted towards negative and complex roles as he promoted Merry Christmas on Thursday.

Vijay on negative roles

He added, "I enjoy villain roles. I enjoy it so much that I can't kill anybody in real life. I get a chance to do it (in films), and I can express that wholeheartedly. Imagine you may have an ego so much but you can't act or show it, and you have to act like, 'I'm very humble.' But onscreen you can express, you can play with emotions, it's fun. Please don't think bad about me. Expressions are like food and taste and I want to have all the taste."

Vijay spoke about working with Katrina

Sharing his experience shooting the film with Katrina, he said, "I never expected I'd work with Katrina Kaif. I'm a very big fan of Katrina. I was very happy when I saw her on the first day and I couldn't express (my happiness). She is a very thoughtful actor. She has so many questions. She thinks a lot. She is very dedicated. She comes up with an idea and she is ready to adapt. Even if she can't accept your thoughts, she will listen to you. She will put in a lot of effort to make a scene better. That's why she is in the industry not only because she is beautiful but also because she is sensible. Just based on beauty you can't survive for so long. There should be sense and understanding. I felt it when I was working with her."

When asked if he had a Wishlist of filmmakers and actors to collaborate with when he first made his Hindi debut with Shahid Kapoor's Farzi, Vijay Sethupathi said, "I don't have a particular wishlist that I want to work with this director or that. I don't discuss it with directors as I think they have to choose actors. I depend on filmmakers, stories, and producers."

Katrina on working with Vijay

Katrina said, "Our first meeting was all three of us (Katrina, Vijay, and Sriram) together in a room and I had recently seen a picture of Vijay sir and he had full white hair and a white beard. So when I entered the office, I didn't know what to expect and when I saw him like this, I said, 'Oh wow, that's a really different look."

Produced by Ramesh Taurani, Sanjay Routray, Jaya Taurani, and Kewal Garg, Merry Christmas is a collaboration between Tips Films and Matchbox Pictures. The film is set to release in two versions – Hindi and Tamil – on January 12. The music of the film is composed by Pritam with lyrics penned by Varun Grover.