Movie Review: The Lunchbox (Hinglish)

Can you fall in love with someone you've never met? In a time when our lives revolve around instant messaging, Facebook, Twitter and email, we are more connected than ever before. But débutant director Ritesh Batra turns back in time and offers a scrumptious, mouth-watering slice of life with his charming epistolary love story The Lunchbox. Love can blossom in the most unlikeliest situations, and between the unlikeliest of people. Neglected housewife Ila (Nimrat Kaur), in an attempt to spice up her marital life, follows the advice of an aunt in the flat upstairs (never physically present) and prepares a tasty meal for her husband.

Unfortunately for her, the dabbawalas of Mumbai deliver her carefully cooked lunch to the wrong man. A Saajan Fernandez (Irrfan Khan), a lonely widower and a government servant on the verge of retirement. Realizing that the food prepared by her was eaten by someone else, Ila encloses a note in the lunchbox the following day, and thus begins an unusual relationship between the two as they exchange letters over the next few days communicating their thoughts to each other.

Capturing the busy bustling city of Mumbai in all its glory (Michael Simmonds), The Lunchbox is delectable as much as heart-breaking. The lonely drab lives led by Saajan and Ila get a reprieve due to the goof-up, and in the process proves to be cathartic and life-changing for both of them. Director Ritesh Batra's narrative wizardry aside, the open-ended film benefits from terrific performances from the leads.

Irrfan Khan (also the film's co-producer) as the reticent widower who loosens up in the wake of love, Nimrat Kaur as the middle-class housewife and Nawazuddin Siddiqui as Saajan's replacement and a loner in his own way pull off their roles with aplomb. Bharati Achrekar lends her voice-over for the aunt's character and does her part brilliantly. The only flaw I found was with the melodramatic sub-plot involving Ila's mother (played by an overly made up Lillete Dubey), which never feels consistent with the flow of the story. Otherwise, what you have is one of the best films I've seen this year. The Lunchbox is an undoubted cinematic masterpiece!