The Lunchbox

An old saying repeated in Ritesh Batra's charming The Lunchbox is that sometimes the wrong train will bring you to the right station. In this case, however, the train turns out to be a dabba (lunchbox), wrongly delivered by a dabbawala to a middle-aged government claims adjuster on the brink of retirement. It works out well even though, in reality, with about 5,000 dabbawalas in the city of Mumbai who deliver more than 130,000 lunch boxes each day, they rarely make a mistake. Written by Stefan Tomke in the mode of You Got Mail, Ila (Nimrat Kaur), a young housewife dutifully prepares a lunch for her emotionally distant husband every day and has it sent to him via the courier.

On the advice of her upstairs Auntie, Mrs. Deshpande (Bharati Achreka), Ila tries to have her husband notice her by putting more spice in the food. When it is wrongly delivered to Saajan (Irrfan Khan, Life of Pi), however, a series of unintended consequences unfold. What begins with a short note from Sajaan to Ila that "the food was salty today" develops into a series of exchanges passed back and forth in the lunchbox everyday in which the two open up to each other about their lives, memories, and their hopes and dreams for the future. A subplot involving Aslam Shaikh (Nawazuddin Siddiqui), an aggressively upbeat successor to Sajaan, adds a touch of humor to the proceedings but also serves to draw a contrast between himself and the grumpy Saajan.

Both Aslam and Sajaan become more endearing, however, as the film progresses. While the ending may thwart expectations if you are used to having all the pieces neatly fit together, The Lunchbox mixes food and romance in a very appealing combination, removing any doubt that Ila and Sajaan have moved to a new level. Impeccably acted and beautifully realized, the film provides an honest appreciation of what it is like to live in Mumbai without exploiting its poverty for Western audiences. Though the wrong train may indeed bring you to the right station, ultimately there is no wrong train and no right station. As The Lunchbox demonstrates, there is just the train and the journey, and it's all perfect.

"The Lunchbox" is the most honest love story to come out of Bollywood in ages. It is a delightful story of love blossoming slowly, one letter a day, between two most unlikely but equally despondent characters you could ever match make.

Debutant Director, Ritesh Batra, who is also done the script writing, has crafted an exquisite gem of a movie. Batra impresses because he does not set out to impress. He conveys eloquently the state of the mind of each character because he is economical with emotions and does not exaggerate. Batra makes a memorable movie with multiple layers because he is honest with himself and his craft. Ritesh Batra is simply magnificent.

The performances by the 3 leading actors, Irrfan Khan, Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Nimrat Kaur are disarmingly natural, poignant and memorable. Pitted against the two stalwarts (comparatively speaking), Khan and Siddiqui, newcomer Nimrat Kaur more than holds her own. I am at a loss of words to describe her performance. Her character is nuanced, neglected, grieving and most complex yet Kaur's is the most memorable performance in the movie. Her role would be talked about for a long time to come.

While ironically, the whole serendipity bit of the film kicks off with a delivery mistake made by Bombay's Dabbawalas, world famous for their Six Sigma (99.999666% ) accuracy, Batra's movie reassures that even if the odds of finding true love in life is Six Sigma stacked against you, it is worth waiting for and taking your chances.

"The Lunchbox" is the most sumptuous and appetizing fare Bollywood has offered in ages. Just go for it

Must watch with a full stomach, else you'll have a watering mouth every five minutes while watching the plot. India is a country where we give utmost importance to food & family. This story, packed in a Lunchbox, comes to your table & gives you a flavor of Indian ethnicity & the emotions we go through in everyday life !

The overcrowded local trains, Harvard certified Mumbai Dabbawalas, Amidst busy working hours, an irritating yet likable junior And the best friend "Aunty" to a direction less housewife

All this should be enough to drag you to the cinema house & enjoy the spicy curry in the LUNCHBOX.

Once Rabindranath Tagore says about 'short stories'...

"Simple events of life happy or sad,/ Some sad strings from the train of forgetfulness,/ Not fraught with heavy descriptions,/ Not crowded with events,/ No advice, no philosophy/ Only the feeling that the story is not yet over/ Although there is no more to read..."

'The Lunchbox' is a perfect example of a unique 'short story'. A little love story with some little events and pain... but at the end there is a new beginning.

The story is about a lonely old widower and a young neglected house wife. They connected through a lunch box and some letters, and share some emotional thought and experience of there daily life with each other. They are totally stranger to each other, but love has found out it's own way to enter.

There is a basic question about "Love"... 'Is it possible to fall in love between two strangers'? "The Lunchbox" defines it brilliantly... 'Love has no definition and it never follows any rules. So there is a possibility to fall in love with somebody whom we never meet. People loves to fall in 'Love' again and again, it may be someone we know or don't know or whom we already loved with'.

Irfan Khan, Nimrat Kaur and Nawazuddin Siddiqui are acted very well through out the movie. Direction of Ritesh Batra is just too much perfect. After interval, the movie is a little bit slow, may be it's a situational demand. Overall it's an wonderful experience.

Lastly, the best part of the movie is 'The Ending'. "Only the feeling that the story is not yet over, although there is no more to read". There is something unspoken in this movie. It depends viewers to viewers, where they actually like to go with "Sajan & Ila".

Strongly recommend to all cine goers... please watch it...

Lunchbox review: Note: Don't open this Dabba if you don't like slow paced movies!!

After a long time i have watched a Bollywood movie where in the movie makes you think about your life and how it can buzz past you before you realize it and that if you don't start to enjoy the small things like the bendi ki sabji, you will be made to eat Aloo Gobi every day (Just kidding) As they say in the movie "Sometimes the wrong train takes you to the right destination" ie Every cloud has a silver lining!!

The story revolves around a misplaced dabba (Trivia: Dabbawala's supposedly have a low error ratio, i.e "one mistake in 8 million deliveries."!!) Irrfan Khan has done a tremendous job both in acting and narrating the story. Nimrat Kaur(the Dairy Milk Silk girl!! ) and Nawazuddin Siddiqui fit their characters perfectly and have done a wonderful job portraying their roles. The only downside is that the pace of the movie is bit slow. But if they had edited it further it would have been a 1hr episode!

The Gujarati film "The Good Road" must have been really good to beat this to be the India's entry into the Oscars.

Rating: I will go with ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ /★★★★★ for this wonderful film.