Directed by Petter Holmsen, Christmas as Usual is a Netflix rom-com and the perfect holiday movie to watch this Christmas season. Christmas as Usual is nothing short of a fairy tale romance with a perfect Bollywood ending, which talks about putting aside cultural differences to embrace each other. Christmas as Usual follows a Norwegian woman named Thea who fell in love with her Indian boyfriend, Jashan, with whom she decided to spend her Christmas holidays back in her home, Norway. But their cultural differences caused a major dilemma in the story, almost ruining Thea’s perfect plan for Christmas Eve. Let’s see how things unfold in Thea and Jashan’s lives after they come to Norway.
Spoilers Ahead
Plot Synopsis: What Happens In The Film?
Thea and Jashan were in love with each other and therefore made the decision to live together under the same roof. Although it was a little quick for Thea to make such a big decision about their relationship, Jashan was already planning to propose to her for marriage. On one holiday morning in December, Jashan finally asked Thea to marry him in a romantic gesture. Thea was hesitant because she might be in love with Jashan, but culturally, they were both very different. Neither of them had yet met each other’s families, which was a major concern for Thea. She really wanted to marry Jashan, but Thea was confused if her mother would give her approval as she still hadn’t told her mother that her boyfriend was Indian. Thea, however, was in love with Jashan as he was a nice, caring, and genuine guy, so she tried to give it a chance and said yes to Jashan’s proposal. But she had an idea to bring Jashan to her home in Norway, to introduce him to her family, and to break the news of their engagement. Jashan was elated and very excited to join her family on Christmas and also to experience the Norwegian Christmas celebration for the first time. But Thea’s habit of keeping secrets created a huge problem after they arrived in Norway.
Did Jashan Win Thea’s Family Over?
Upon arriving home, Thea’s mother, Annie-Lise, was quite surprised to know that Jashan was an Indian guy. She tried to welcome him with an open heart, but she was curious if, being an Indian guy, Jashan had any idea about Christmas. Jashan, in the meantime, tried to make himself home and called Annie-Lise “Mumma,” which was an Indian tradition to call someone’s in-laws their father and mother. It was quite overwhelming for Annie, but she couldn’t talk about it with Thea. Thea understood that her mother was not very happy to see that Jashan was an Indian guy, so she kept their engagement a secret and waited for the perfect opportunity to break the news.
The next day, Thea’s brother, Simen, and his family came to join them. Jashan met with Simen and his wife and also befriended Simen’s little daughter, Ronja. Thea spilled the news of her engagement with Jashan to Simen and his wife, but she asked them to keep it quiet, as Annie still had no idea about it. Simen didn’t think it was a good idea to make such a decision so easily without even knowing Jashan properly, but Thea had faith that her family would eventually like Jashan. Jashan began to participate in every Christmas event Thea’s family celebrated. Therefore, Thea took a little time and decided to break the news of their engagement on little Christmas evening, (23rd December) after the dinner. However, Jashan understood it wrong and made some Indian food as a special dinner for the night, which was not greatly appreciated by the entire family. Simen and Annie-Lise couldn’t take much spice, causing them to devour pudding after dinner. Jashan realized that it was going to be hard for him to win over Thea’s family.
Why Did Jashan Leave On Christmas Night?
Jashan hadn’t given up yet. He decided to join the family for every other Christmas celebration, like taking an ice bath or going skiing, and even joined them at the church to listen to Ronja perform in the church choir. However, in the midst of it all, Jashan came to know about Thea’s past relationship, which she had never talked about previously. While Thea took Jashan out for skiing, Jashan couldn’t ski along with Thea because he kept slipping on the ice, causing him to fall, so Annie-Lise called their boy next door, Jorgen, who was Thea’s ex, to bring them home. Jorgen brought Jashan and Thea home, and while Jashan asked him to come in, Jorgen revealed that it might be a little awkward due to their history of being together. Jashan was quite shocked to learn about it that from Jorgen and also confused about why Thea wasn’t really open about these things to him.
Next, at the church, things got messy when Jashan got really annoyed being at church and singing church choir. So he went out and called his mother, but his loud voice disturbed everyone present at the church. Finally, Thea had to get up to tell Jashan to shut up. Jashan wasn’t actually sorry for ruining the church choir, as he was far from understanding the sanctity of being at church even though they weren’t Christians. But he couldn’t try to accept the fact that it was a Norwegian tradition and he couldn’t fit into it, no matter how he tried. Finally, on Christmas night, when everyone in Thea’s family was dressed according to Norwegian tradition, Jashan dressed up in an Indian kurta as if he were going to a wedding. His loud outfit was not quite appreciated by Thea’s family, but they were trying to make no comments on it.
On the dinner table, Jashan even made a scene, as he didn’t like the pork and overcooked garlic and fat sauce that Annie-Lise had prepared. He tried to eat it without making any complaints, but he got extremely drunk and couldn’t help but comment on how much he disliked the food. The situation was somehow handled, but Jorgen, dressed up as Santa, messed up Christmas night. He came to Thea and asked her to sit on his lap, which made Jashan uncomfortable. Thea sat on his lap for the sake of Christmas, but she really wanted Jorgen to leave as soon as possible. She had decided to break the news to everyone, but multiple obstacles were preventing her from doing so.
Jorgen understood that his presence was not accepted by Thea, so he was about to leave, but before he took off, he made Jashan angry by commenting on his kurta. Jashan, already drunk and furious, pushed him, causing the two of them to get into a scuffle. Finally, Thea stopped them and asked Jorgen to leave. She also told Jashan that it would be better for him to go too. Jashan had also made up his mind that he would never fit into her family, but before he took off, he said that despite having such huge cultural differences, he would have really appreciated it if Thea had his back. But Thea was busy making her Christmas night perfect instead of standing by Jashan’s side. Jashan wasted no time and said goodbye to Thea before taking a cab to the airport.
Did Jashan And Thea End Up Together?
Thea was heartbroken, and she couldn’t stop crying and drinking alcohol. Ronja, her little niece, came to give her some solace and asked where Jashan went. She told Thea that Jashan was really cool, and she liked him, even though he ruined her choir performance. But Ronja didn’t care much about the choir, as she herself didn’t like to sing it and was pressured by her mother to perform it. Thea understood that she had never actually wanted to let Jashan go. She was also under the pressure of making Christmas perfect, so she totally forgot about the person she loved the most. She finally told her mother that she had been engaged to Jasha, and no matter how, she would go to the airport and try to salvage their relationship. Her mother was hesitant at first, but she decided to accompany her daughter as she had to apologize to Jashan as well. Finally, after overcoming all the obstacles, Thea arrived at the airport, and, forgetting about the security, she hurried inside and stopped Jashan from boarding the flight. She apologized for her mistakes and admitted that she should have had Jashan’s back. In a romantic gesture, Thea took the ring and asked Jashan if he still wanted to marry her. The answer was definitely yes, but before Jashan and Thea could hug each other, the security guards caught them.
At the end of Christmas as Usual, we saw Thea and Jashan were happily engaged, and in the next year’s Christmas, they were celebrating Christmas in an Indian-Norwegian way. However, Jashan broke the news that they had decided to wed in Indian traditional style in Jashan’s homeland, which once again shocked Annie-Lise because her daughter had kept it a secret. Christmas as Usual finally ended with Thea’s family and Jashan enjoying Christmas and dancing bhangra around the Christmas tree, with a Bollywood Punjabi song playing in the background.
