User:Eagamariyappan/sandbox

The Lunchbox Film review
File:The-lunchbox.jpg lunchbox

The reality of life packed up in a lunch box with some delicacies, lingering your taste buds. Life in a Metro like Mumbai is a fantasy for many youngsters. But Ritesh Batra has explored the hidden reality of this life which comes with a package of adventure, opportunities, fun and of course a bit of loneliness, monotony and emptiness. Beneath all these realities, lies an untold love story.

The film revolves around these characters:

Ila – (Nimrat Kaur)

Mrs Deshpande – (Bharati Achrekar, only heard throughout the film)

Sajjan Fernandez – (Irrfan Khan)

Shaikh – (Nawazuddin Siddiqui)

Ila, a resident of a typical confined house in Mumbai lives with her husband and a school going daughter. In spite of a happy family, she struggles to spice up her married life. The lady downstairs (Mrs Deshpande), tries help Ila out of this clumsy feeling of loneliness. She goes by the old proverb (The best way to get into a man’s heart is through his stomach). Inspired by the lady’s words Ila cooks up a delicious meal and packs it up with love and care, eagerly waiting for a change to happen….what is the change? That’s the unpredictable part of the story…!!!

Destiny takes over, by replacing the Lunchbox elsewhere. Instead of Ila’s husband, it reaches a cranky accountant (a widower named Saajan Fernandes) who is at the verge of his retirement. Speaking about Saajan, his wife is no more and he lives a lonely life too. When it comes to work he is a sincere man. Shaikh accompanies him most of the time, who happens to be his successor at work. Initially he is reluctant towards Shaikh’s friendship. Shaikh somehow manages to build up a relationship with him. When Ila gets to know about the jumbled lunchbox delivery she writes a note to this stranger and a cute bond of friendship takes off. At some point the friendship transforms into love since both are succumbed to loneliness.

The Lunchbox unfolds against the flurry of the swarming city (Mumbai). The sequence of the Dabba (Lunchbox) travelling from Ila’s kitchen to the concerned recipient’s workplace is captured skillfully by the cinematographer. This is a kind of cluttered journey where you’ll have to travel all through the bursting Metro along with the characters, with cute little messages travelling along with the Dabbas.

Irrfan is always a tough competition when it comes to acting. His brilliant performance proves it all. Shaikh puts up a convincing performance throughout the film. Speaking about Ila, the leading lady, she has just lived the character, she is all by herself throughout the film, a typical housewife longing for some attention. Her performance is sure to leave all homemakers in daze. At last their struggle has reached the limelight. This film might light up a few of those dull marriages which are ruined in the name of a “routine household”.

To all those people on a diet…Beware…!!! You might end up binging yourself on a sumptuous meal as soon as you walk out of the theatres, because Ila’s cooking leaves you craving for those delicacies.

At the end of the day you can walk out with the pleasure of having watched a beautiful and genuine love story.