The Lunchbox (2013)

The lunch box is a Hindi drama film about the lives of an aging accounts officer and a middle aged house wife, how their lives cross paths. It is considered one of best films of the decade.

Cast : Irrfan Kahn, Nimrat Kaur, Nawazuddin Siddiqie.

Plot and summary:

Dhabbawallas in Mumbai are a transport service who deliver lunch boxes for the working professionals from their homes. They have been awarded 6 sigma certification , which means the number of mistakes is 1 in ten million. That one mistake is the central plot of the film.

Illa(played by Nimrat Kaur) is a middle aged house wife with a 7 year old daughter. She lives in the Mumbai alone with her husband and the child. Her only hobby, recreation is cooking . the film starts with an usual day where she prepares lunch for her husband is with help from her neighbor above.

This is one of the peculiar character in the film, illa refers to her only as aunty and we dont see her in the film at all. All the conversations happen through shouting and a pulley from above!. Illa tries desperately to rebuild relationship with her husband who seems to aloof about her. She takes extra care to prepare a good meal for him

Saajan Fernanders( played by Irrfan), we get to know his name very late in the film, is a aging accounts officer who works in a claims dept for 35 years. He is about to retire very soon. That day illa's lunch box gets wrongly delivered to Saajan and he has never a such a good meal for a long time. He is confused.

Illa finds out that the lunch box has been wrongly delivered and she writes a letter to saajan thanking him .Saajan and illa start conversing through these letters daily and they get to know each other. Saajan is portrayed a reserved and a serious person who doesn't talk much and spends most of his time in loneliness. He leads a simple life and spends most of time grieving about his wife's death. Through we don't know much about her. We could only speculate that he really loved her. The relationship which develops between saajan and illa is portrayed superbly in a subtle manner, they start by random introductions and slowly the conversation develops and they finally decide to meet.

lla's character in the film is about a typical indian house wife ,who gives up all her life for her husband and kids. When she finds that her husband is cheating on her. Illa is really upset , she finds solance in saajan's letters which latter develops into a  good relationship. Its a mature love that develops between saajan and illa but one that might not last very long.

Saajan makes himself ready on the big day but he could not make himself to face her. He writes to illa once again telling her the reason which is one of the beautiful scenes of the film, he comes to the restaurant but doesn't come to see her. He makes a beautiful comment about his age and tells her that it's better we stop at here.

Saajan meets his replacement shaik(played by Nawazuddin) who becomes his protege eventually in the film. Saajan even becomes his only witness for his marriage.  Shaik feels that he had lost his brother when saajan finally leaves for Nasik. 

The director beautifully shows the transformation of Saajan from an aging person who has no hopes left in his life, to a person who has something to look for. Illa makes him understand that he is not alone and still he some time left. Though we don't see this explicitly in the film there are glimpses which show this. 

Illa , after reading the  final letter from Saajan tries to bury the relationship with Saajan buy telling the dhabbawalla about the mistake  but eventually ends up visiting his office. She finds that he has retired and has gone to Nasik. In the train Saajan has a tensed look on his face and finally decides to come back. He returns with a reassuring face , which we understand why at the end of the film.

Verdict:

One of the mature love story's of our time. Brilliant performance by Irrfan, nirmat and Nawazuddin. The visuals are really rustic and capture a Glimpse the old Mumbai and it's trains and buses. More that the outdoors, the food was great(though we can't eat or smell it). It makes you hungry after you watch this.

The director leaves many in answered questions at the end. Does saajan meet illa? Does illa go to Bhutan? Do they get married?. But all these are unnecessary. At the end the film was about some good food, some good words exchanged.