Vijay Sethupathi and Katrina Kaif’s first date on Christmas eve turns into a nightmare in Andhadhun director Sriram Raghavan’s upcoming thriller Merry Christmas trailer, dropped by the makers on Wednesday.

Both Katrina and Vijay’s characters are introduced as two complete strangers living in “sweet anticipation” for their first date in the two-minute-20-second-long trailer. Beginning with the two strangers grinding peanuts and sleeping pills in two separate mixers, the video goes on to show their daily routine as they wait to meet each other. Though their date begins on a sweet note, things turn horribly wrong as the clock strikes midnight.

When the events of the night leave their lives in jeopardy, their only way out is to seek help from Sanjay Kapoor’s M, who introduces himself as a “lone wolf” whom “the good lord knew how to keep in the right place at the right time”. With retro visuals similar to Quentin Tarantino’s 1994 crime film Pulp Fiction, the trailer ends with Vijay mentioning that sometimes the path of violence is better than sacrifice.

While the Hindi trailer of Merry Christmas features other cast members like Vinay Pathak, Pratima Kannan, Ashwini Kalsekar, Radhika Apte and Tinnu Anand, the Tamil version showcases more intense scenes and introduces actors Rajesh Williams and Kavin Jay Babu. The latter version is set to Italian composer Vivaldi’s Winter section from his violin concerti The Four Seasons.

Produced by Ramesh Taurani, Sanjay Routray, Jaya Taurani and Kewal Garg under the banner of Matchbox Pictures, Merry Christmas is slated to release in theatres on January 12, 2024 in both Hindi and Tamil.