Director – Ritesh Batra
There has been a lot of buzz on lunchbox not being selected from India into Oscars and let me inform you that I am not one of the bees. But I must definitely ask you to watch the film. One of the best and most well made and ambitious films in Indian cinema – this year and for many more years to come.
A simple love story about an elderly man working as a clerk, about to retire after 35 years of government service and a middle aged housewife. The man is a widow and the woman is one of the many lonely wives living a claustrophobic life with a husband who is least bothered about her and cheating on her. The lunchbox she sends her husband gets exchanged to our protagonist and as she confronts with him through a letter, that is where the story starts. The entire set up might be cliched, but the treatment is absolutely unique and just beautiful weaved together under the theme of famous dabba system in Mumbai.
The simplicity of the typical young Indian housewife, the typical neighbours of an Indian household and all the characters – very well written. What it fails to do to me is the fact that I felt it could have touched me more if Irfan Khan’s character wasn’t so closed as it was. Nevertheless, must watch.
PS – The film won Grand rail d’Or at Cannes this year and was also screened at TIFF and has done good job in the box office too collecting around 11 crores for the first week. The hype helped. Way to go indie!
Shaj's Film blog 