The Lunchbox – is a Hindi drama released in 2013. A mistaken delivery of a lunchbox (dabba) by the dabbawala service in Mumbai helps an unhappy house wife Ila and an about to retire government servant and widower Saajan discover love and a soul mate in each other, when they start exchanging letters through the dabba.

The movie is not a fairy tale although the plot might seem like a stereo typical romance tale. The movie is very close to real life and many a times the audience would feel the “bite” of reality in the lunchbox. Irrfan Khan does a brilliant role as an old man about to retire. His body language, habits and everything he does convinces you of his portrayed age. Nimrat Kaur has performed decently. The characters of Nawazuddin Siddiqui, a shameless young man getting trained as a successor for Irrfan, the aunty living in the top floor of Nimrat advising her like an oracle are brilliantly woven into the screenplay to reflect the various emotions the lead characters go through.  The director Ritesh Batra deserves a lot of credit for making a movie that stands out from the usual larger than life bollywood flicks and that captures the glimpse of life as it is. Cinematography by Michael Simmonds and music by Max Ritcher makes you feel that you are in midst of Mumbai witnessing the event… simply brilliant. Overall the lunchbox is served with mixed flavors of happiness and sadness in everyday life and it does not serve you dessert 🙂 The movie would do well with multiplex audience but may not appeal beyond the multiplexes as there are many dialogues in English. If you liked movies like Lost in Translation then this one is a must watch for you….!

Must Watch – for serious movie lovers