Film review of "The Lunchbox"

Some unknown and undefined connections always exist among a few people in this extraordinary world. Only the media of communication keeps on changing as days pass by. Earlier it used to be pen friends, followed by social networking sites like Facebook, and Social messaging applications like Whats app that have taken the place. Yet people who don't know each other, may be connected just via a simple media of communication.

Written and directed by Ritesh Batra, this movie depicts a simple romantic budding love story of two people who don't know each other, but are linked through a series of letters.

Using the idea of Pen - friendship, the director has been able to implement the idea of love and romance flourishing among two unknowns, with the heavy stress and hustle of Mumbai life in back ground, very aesthetically.

The film was screened at International Critics' Week at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival, and later won the Critics Week Viewers Choice Award also. It was shown at the 2103 Toronto International Film Festival. The film was released in India, U.S., and U.K. on 20th September, 2013 and did well at the box office. It has received over whelming positive reviews and responses from critics world wide.

Now,I would like to start with the film review of the movie:

Title: The main plot of the movie throws light on an undefined budding relationship that slowly emerges among two unknowns, who have never met each other. In a slow but steady manner, the movie shows how people living in fast paced cities like Mumbai, have to undergo violent stress in order to accomplish their work, but still find time to enjoy the beauty of love and essence of life. The connection between the two lead characters in this movie, is established using a series of letters kept inside a misplaced lunchbox from time to time. Hence, the title "Lunchbox" is accurately justified.

Poster: The main theatrical release poster shows the three lead characters of the movie, pursuing on their journey of life, entangling each other,along with a hint of love and affection prevalent among one or more of them.

                                             

Though the poster does not clearly imply about the main theme of the movie, but it is sufficient enough to attract sensible audience to the movie theatres. Thus, the poster in delivering it's purpose, is a success.

Story Line: The story line is based on a very unique idea of  a strong romantic bonding, slowly budding up between two unknown people developed through a series of letters, initiated by a misplaced lunchbox, and this forms the crux of the story. The story starts with a little throw of light on the Mumbai daily life and it's fast pace, and meanwhile the main characters are introduced slowly in a regular manner. The pattern of the so called dabba(Container/Lunchbox) service in Mumbai, delivered by the local dabbawalas(Delivery Boys) is then shown to the audience in a satirical way. The delivery boy commits a mistake by wrongly delivering the food container of a housewife,which was to be received by her husband, to an about to retire office employee, whom she doesn't even know. This mistake continues for many days,after which the house wife comes to know about it, and then tries to make contact with the unknown stranger(employee),by writing a letter to him and embedding it in the lunchbox, in order to get a feedback about the food that she cooks everyday for her husband,from him.The story line then takes a convoluted turn when it is revealed gradually that the housewife is unhappy with her life,and so is the employee with his life,due to him being a lonely widower.Gradually they begin to share their inner feelings with each other, and as time passes by, they fall in love. However, the story ends with a question mark, leaving it on the mental orientation and aspection of the audience to assume the ending.

Acting: Irrfan Khan, one of the most reputed powerhouse performers of Bollywood, has kept his reputation intact as per the defined standards, through his acting skills portrayed in this movie. Apart from some typical mannerisms common in his every movie, he has been able to bring out the character of a lonely widower seeking for love,as well as a budding lover,with great and clear confidence. He has been able to make the audience feel as if some real life incident is going on, and his character lively,through his acting.

Nimrat Kaur, in the role of an unhappy house wife, who longs for her husband's love, takes suggestions from her flatmate upstairs in order to charm her husband, and finally falls for a complete stranger, does justice to her role. In scenes, where she needed to show her emotional expressions with ease, she is mildly successful.

Nawazuddin Siddiqui, as the irritating sub-employee as well as the caring friend, brings out his character lively again, thus maintaining his standards.

Other minor characters are also well portrayed by the respective actors. The cast selection gets a rating of 9/10 from me.

Music: The film does not have a large number of tracks.It is based on a hypothetical situation that may arise in real life,in a course of time,and so needs less or no songs to avoid making the script clumsy. One particular track of a song being sung by a tribal group in a Local train deserves special mention,not for lyrics but for it's originality and equivalence to real life.

Pace: The pace of the movie is too slow. The opening and closing of the lunchbox is shown too many times unnecessarily,thus making the audience feel bored. The movie could be made a little faster or better shorter by editing and removing a few irrelevant scenes.

Overall,the movie gets a rating of 7.5/10 from me.