The Lunchbox

In Mumbai (formerly 'Bombay'), India, there is a very complex network of 5000 Dabbawallahs. Their job is to arrive at the homes of Indian workers to get homemade lunches from the wives and transport them all over the city so that the men can have hot, home-cooked meals every day. Then, after lunch, they collect all the empty lunch pails and deliver them to the wives. Despite this being a logistical nightmare, the meals get delivered to the right person all the time with very, very few mistakes—carried by hand and on bicycles and scooters by mostly illiterate men! With the movie Dabba, a mistake amazingly happens and a wife's meal arrives for a total stranger instead of her husband. At first, the man doesn't realize he's eating another man's lunch—he just thinks the restaurant that delivers his lunch box has suddenly improved! However, once the wife realizes her mistake, she sends the next meal along with a note explaining the mix-up—and soon the pair begin exchanging letters. At first, they are quite simple and formal. Later, they become much more complicated, as by now the wife has realized that her husband has been cheating—and this total stranger becomes her confidante. All during this long exchange of letters, the woman CONTINUES sending lunches to this stranger and they forge an odd friendship! There's far more to the film than this—see it yourself and you'll see what I mean.

Dabba is the sort of film Hollywood could never make. Part of it is, of course, because there is no comparable lunch system in the States. Part of it, too, is that the film does NOT have a perfect happy ending and it doesn't follow a typical formula. There is a lot of sadness and longing and the film leaves you with this, as it's not afraid to leave the audience slightly dissatisfied. Now I am NOT complaining—but Hollywood films seem to have an implicit understanding that everything must be resolved perfectly before a movie can end. Not so with Dabba. This might upset some viewers, but it shouldn't—it's still a very good movie. Plus, a 'Hollywoodized' ending would have been far less realistic. And, as far as realism goes, this Indian film is not typical of a Bollywood flick either. While it was directed and written by an Indian, Ritesh Batra, and stars Indian actors (Irrfan Khan and Nimrat Kaur), it is also a French/German co-production. As such, it lacks the usual song and dance numbers you find in most Indian films and is only a little over an hour and a half (most Indian films are considerably longer—often twice as long or longer). Instead following convention, the film is all about realism. It makes for a nice change of pace even if the ending will be vaguely unsatisfying to many viewers. Worth seeing as long as you don't demand formula. And, worth seeing as long as you don't mind reading subtitles. A film that is truly unique and the acting is really lovely.

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.

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.

"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

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.