The Lunchbox (2013)

Director: Ritesh Batra

Story: Ritesh Batra

Cast: Irrfan Khan, Nimrat Kaur, Nawazuddin Siddiqui

Music: Max Richter

Time: 105 minutes

Bottom-line: Sweet and moving; a lovely family drama

Ritesh Batra’s first feature film is an epistolary romantic drama, starring Irrfan Khan and Nimrat Kaur in the lead roles, with Nawazuddin Siddiqui in the supporting role. In the era of WhatsApp, Facebook and Tinder, The Lunchbox is a tale where the good old art of writing letters brings about a romance between two complete strangers. The film was Irrfan Khan’s highest grossing film till Hindi Medium.

Saajan Fernandes (Khan) is a widower who is about to quit his job as an accountant. He is socially awkward and has distanced himself from everyone ever since his wife’s death. His replacement at work is Shaikh (Siddiqui), a young chap whose incompetence initially annoys Saajan, but they soon become close friends. Meanwhile, Ila (Kaur) is a wife and mother, who is trying to bring back romance into her relationship with her husband by cooking delicious food for him, but (as she later finds out), he is already having an affair with someone else. When the lunchbox intended for her husband gets wrongly delivered to Saajan, Ila decides to write an apology letter to him the next day and place it in the same lunchbox. This gets a conversation started between them, and they exchange letters through the lunchbox every day. As the messages become more personal, what happens when Ila and Saajan finally decide to meet?

 

Kaur as Ila

The film’s story makes use of the dabbawalla network in Mumbai – a group of men who form a delivery system for lunchboxes from homes and hotels to workplaces – since it is a mix-up in this network that causes the lunchbox to go to Saajan by mistake. Of course, in reality, the dabbawalla network has been praised by many to be flawless, and has even been taken up as a case study at Harvard. The highlight of the story is its simplicity – an everyday household, a normal accountant, a seemingly annoying colleague and a helpful neighbour all get involved in a beautiful love story.

 

Irrfan as Saajan (left) and Siddiqui as
Shaikh

Irrfan Khan’s acting – as always – is brilliant. He somehow brings a charm to the deadpan expression he puts on throughout the film – something that Bill Murray also had a surprising ability to do. It is heart-warming to see the change he undergoes: when Ila first writes the apology letter, he replies with nothing more than “Dear Ila, the food was very salty today”, but as time progresses, she finds comfort in telling her secrets to him. Nimrat Kaur’s acting is also superb, and Siddiqui brings the occasional dry humour to the story, and his character plays a crucial role in making Saajan open to friendship.

The high point of the film is when Ila suggests that she and Saajan meet in person, and what actually happens is not something everyone would approve of. The ending is bittersweet, and to some extent, open-ended. In a film with a very unconventional romance, Batra has done exceptionally well not to go into any of the usual clichés of Hindi cinema, nor has he made it too awkward and unrealistic. It is the perfect blend of realism and emotional content.   

My Rating: 4.5/5

Rotten Tomatoes rating: 96%