A Fresh Take on Dickens for Diwali

Read Time:5 Minute, 6 Second

MOVIE REVIEW
A Diwali Dilemma
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Genre: Drama, Comedy, Fantasy
Year Released: 2025
Runtime: 17m (released in segments as a mini-series)
Director(s): Mohanalakshmi Rajakumar (Mohana)
Writer(s): Mohana
Cast: Priya Deva, Ruth Kaufman, Walter J. Buck, Jill Holder, Levin Valayil, Nishta Cattnari, DeMarco C. Jackson, Priya Pappu, Mohanalakshmi Rajakumar, Virginia Vogt, Jordon Kline
Where to Watch: releasing this month to commemorate the upcoming holiday season, check it out here: www.youtube.com

RAVING REVIEW: A DIWALI DILEMMA begins in the fluorescently-lit cubicles of a workplace that doesn’t celebrate diversity so much as commodify it. Mala, an overworked employee, is compelled by her toxic boss to organize a Diwali party as a superficial gesture of inclusion. Already running on fumes, she numbs herself with too many drinks and collapses. What follows is a night of reckoning, guided by three mentors from her past, who force her to confront how far she has drifted from the dreams she once had of becoming.

By choosing Diwali as its backdrop, the web series doesn’t just swap one holiday for another. It roots itself in a cultural moment defined by renewal, self-reflection, and the triumph of light over darkness. The connection to Dickens’ A Christmas Carol is clear, but the retelling works precisely because it isn’t locked to the original structure. Instead, the film reframes the familiar story in a way that resonates with South Asian identity and modern professional life. Where Dickens critiqued greed, this story critiques burnout and assimilation—the cost of bending oneself to a system that rewards surface-level diversity while crushing individuality.

The spirits, each deeply personal, shift the tone. Mala’s grandmother, Sunita Paati (Priya Deva), becomes the Spirit of Diwali Past, reminding her of childhood joys that she abandoned in pursuit of image and control. The Spirit of Diwali Present, a college professor, reminds her of the book of poetry she never published and the connections she left behind. The Spirit of Diwali Future comes in the most startling form: an older version of Mala, broken and discarded after a career of sacrifices made in vain. Together, they give the tale a distinctly feminist twist, where the ghosts don’t just warn—they indict the pressures that stripped Mala of her agency.

The cast gives the story an undeniable weight. Priya Pappu delivers a standout performance, bringing depth to a character grappling with cultural struggles and personal regret. Priya Deva, who has established a reputation through both independent and mainstream projects, adds another layer of credibility to the ensemble. At the same time, Ruth Kaufman takes on a smaller role as the stand-in for Scrooge, bringing a seasoned presence to the employer roles. Levin Valayil, Walter J. Buck, and Virginia Vogt round out the cast.

The decision to split the film into mini-episodes enhances its accessibility for a Gen Z audience, but it also risks some narrative fragmentation. Even so, the story’s momentum—the urgency of one night to change a life—remains intact. The cinematography strikes a balance between intimacy and atmosphere, never allowing the symbolic framework to overshadow the characters' humanity.

What elevates A DIWALI DILEMMA is its willingness to criticize the systems that reduce cultural holidays to shallow workplace events. The boss’ demand for a “tokenist” Diwali party is one of the sharpest critiques, showing how corporate diversity efforts often veer into exploitation rather than empowerment. By embedding its tale in this environment, the series adds a layer of contemporary relevance that Dickens could never have imagined.

Of course, with only 17 minutes to work with, some stories feel truncated. Mala’s transformation is rapid, leaving little room for nuance in her rediscovery of lost dreams. The urgency mirrors the real-world experience of realizing, in one sudden flash, that life is slipping away. In a culture saturated with streaming epics, a short-form project that insists on immediate impact is refreshing.

Like the stories it draws from, A DIWALI DILEMMA balances humor, sadness, and insight with a sense of inevitability. The lights of Diwali don’t just symbolize joy—they burn away denial. The result is a short that lingers well after its final scene, asking viewers to reconsider what they’ve sacrificed and whether there’s still time to reclaim what matters.

A DIWALI DILEMMA reimagines A Christmas Carol through a distinctly feminist lens, transforming the ghosts of Dickens into mentors who hold a mirror up to a woman caught between ambition and authenticity. Its brevity doesn’t dilute its bite; instead, it sharpens the story to a fine point. With a strong ensemble, a thoughtful script from Mohanalakshmi Rajakumar, and a cultural specificity that deepens the universal appeal, this mini-series proves that holiday tales don’t need to be warm and fuzzy to resonate. Sometimes they need to sting before they can heal.

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