Dear Mr.Ritesh Batra, Where were you all this while?
The Lunchbox makes one ask this question. The movie is
alluring, yet poignant. Remorseful, yet fulfilling. When you leave the movie
theatre and head back home, The Lunchbox gives you a bittersweet feeling.
A bit on the premise of the movie. The Lunchbox is about two
lonesome individuals; Saajan Fernandes, a widower approaching his retirement
and stuck in an extremely mundane, desolate life and Ila, a housewife &
caring mother, neglected by her husband due to his extra-marital affair. The story
is centered on the dabbawalas delivering Ila’s dabba, meant for her husband, to
a wrong address, i.e. to Saajan. When she realizes that the meal she had
prepared for her loving husband was eaten by someone else, she writes a small
note along with the dabba the next day. Saajan writes back and the irresistibly sweet tale
of the budding friendship/love of two strangers commences. They exchange notes
daily sharing with each other their lives, loneliness, dreams and memories of
their dear ones. Go watch the movie and don’t wait for me to let out the entire
story.
Performances. We all know the genius that Irfan Khan is. In one
of his best performances till date, Irfan as Saajan makes a really complex
character come to life with ease. His expressions, melancholy in his eyes and
his body language as a loner, right upto the slight changes in his mannerisms
when he opens up to Ila and falls in love with her. Phenomenal. In one of his
letters to Ila, he writes “We forget things when there is no one to tell them
to”. He emancipates this, through his performance.
Nimrat Kaur as Ila, is exceptionally good. Her performance
as a house wife framed by neglect, stuck within the realms of her house is near
perfect. She embodies the spirit of lacs of housewives who don’t often get to
experience the kind of world many of us take for granted. The couple of scenes
where she interacts with her mother (played by Lilette Dubey), her subtle
expressions are a treat to watch.
Nawazuddin Siddique as Shaikh gives a charming performance.
Shaikh is the cheery, optimistic guy poised to take over from Saajan at work.
His attempts at bonding with Saajan, in spite of the latter’s reluctance, are
endearing & funny to watch. He does absolutely no harm to his claims as one
of the finest actors in the country at present. There is also Auntyji, who lives right above
Ila’s house and keeps giving her tips on cooking. She is the one who gives Ila
the idea to send Saajan a letter to start with. I wish I could thank Auntyji for that, but the movie doesn't give a face to her voice.
The real hero of the movie is debutant director, Ritesh
Batra and his magnificent script. In an age of whatsapp, SMSes and Social
Media, he scripts a charming love story relying on hand written letters hidden
in lunchboxes. His story gives one an essence of the loneliness that harbors
inside an individual, in the hustle-bustle of metros and how their lives go on
with the hope, that someday things will get better. His treatment of the
characters shows his understanding of the complexity of human emotions. One can’t
wait to see what he has in store for us next.
I’ll give The Lunchbox a 5 on 5. It is one of the best love stories ever told in Indian cinema. It teaches you about love in the most subtle
of ways. Go watch it, they don’t make them like this anymore.
