Thursday, September 26, 2013

The Delectable Tale that is The Lunchbox


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.

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