It takes several trains and various legs of a bike ride to take the lunches Ila (Nimrat Kaur, Peddlers) freshly prepares to the workplace of Saajan (Irrfan Khan, Life of Pi), though that is not their intended destination. Ila cooks for her husband Rajeev (Nakul Vaid, Stalker), hoping her food will reignite the passion long missing in their marriage. Through human error in a system hailed for its efficiency and accuracy, the meals she makes are given to the wrong person.
Thus a one-in-a-million mistake begets a tender story of connection, as Ila and Saajan realise the blunder but start to correspond in notes accompanying the errant deliveries. A friendship forms over words and tastes, the delights of the latter inspiring honesty in the former as the two lonely souls relate their feelings and fears. Verging on retirement and haunted by his past, he trains an eager new employee, Shaikh (Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Monsoon Shootout), to take his place, but is resigned to a solitary future when his working life is over. At home day after day, her only real contact with an auntie who lives above, she dreams of something more than the domestic duties of wedlock.
The Lunchbox may be the Indian cultural equivalent of You’ve Got Mail and its predecessor The Shop Around the Corner in its use of a gimmick of communication to bring two strangers together, albeit one teeming with a suitable sense of nostalgia for times gone by, though that doesn’t make writer/director Ritesh Batra’s first feature any less effective or affecting. A well-worn idea inspires a film made with earnestness that defies its underlying conventions, and remains equally amusing and sorrowful in the process. Echoed throughout are sensitive but never too saccharine sentiments that indulge everyday illusions of living a different life while acknowledging the sad reality that such flights of fancy typically prove all too fleeting. Elements of odd couple buddy comedy in the similarly revelatory relationship between Saajan and Shaikh are afforded the same nuance.
Warming to the movie is easy, the first seeds planted in Batra’s astute conjuring of personality. It is in the resultant performances, however, that the film truly earns its fondness, with newcomer Kaur and veteran Khan owning the complications of the complex lives of their particular yet relatable protagonists, and Siddiqui ever the energetic counterpart. Yearning while not overreaching, their efforts exude the same authenticity as the surrounding feature. Charm comes not in the pursuit of a fantasised ideal, but in the embrace of its evident imperfections: in the ageing man who finally makes new friends but can’t overcome his penchant for solitude, in the younger woman who takes a risk but realises she also has other options, and in the nuance and humour of observations – in narrative and portrayal – about life’s many compromises.
Temperate, honeyed images furnish a fitting palette for the wistful effort, relishing a crisp glow without oversaturating the feature’s lustre. Largely shot on location in its Mumbai setting, the texture of the city proves as pivotal as the lingering shots of delicious meals, both enticing in their delicacy and colour. With cinematographer Michael Simmonds (At Any Price), Batra shows skill in carving separate visual spaces befitting the division of its characters and shifts in mood. Heavy-handed musical cues may comprise the least subtle evocations of the film’s bittersweet beauty, as well as signify its residence in safe territory, but its quiet romantic contemplation remains poignant and powerful.
Rating: 3 ½ out of 5 stars
The Lunchbox
Director: Ritesh Batra
India / France / Germany / USA, 2013, 105 mins
Release date: July 10
Distributor: Madman
Rated: PG
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