The Lunchbox (2013) – Review

Movies which are set in the present often have the issue that when characters communicate it is really direct and quick. If they are not meeting face to face they will send each other instant messages or tweets. It’s communication which doesn’t have much meaning and is all about instant gratification. The moviegoing audience has become accustomed to it. Not only in the way these interactions are shown, but also the speed with which stories are told. I know quite a few people who refuse to watch older movies because the are too slow (which is a shame of course). So what is a filmmaker to do when he wants to build a relationship between two characters, but wants to do that over a longer period of time without the two meeting each other? Director Ritesh Batra has found a great solution for that in The Lunchbox and the end result is a very strong film.

Saajan Fernandes is a widower who is about to retire. His boss wants him to train a new employee, but Saajan keeps trying to get him to do something else or simply avoids him. At the same time a young housewife, Ila (Nimrat Kaur), tries to get the attention of her husband by following instructions from her upstairs neighbour in preparing a very special lunch for him. In India people who work don’t bring their lunches to work, but there is a very efficient system in which a special service brings the lunches from home to work. Because something goes wrong with the delivery of Ila’s lunch it ends up being delivered to Saajan. Initially he thinks that the place where he orders his lunch has a new cook, but he soon finds a letter from Ila in his lunch package and the two start writing to each other. In this exchange of letters they open themselves up and try to help each other.

 This isn’t a movie with a quick pace, but one which takes its time to slowly develop the situation, regularly injected with humour. Ila is constantly yelling to her upstairs neighbour for advice and Saajan’s workplace often is a source of jokes. But mostly this is a romantic drama which feels fresh because of its setting. The lack of fleeting moments gives this a deeprooted feeling that two people, even if they have never met or spoken to each other, can have a strong intimacy. And that’s something director Ritesh Batra manages to do well.