The Lunchbox (2013)

Imagine a intimate multi course meal... The premise of the taste provided by a subtle soup... The appetite increases with a delicious appetizer ... The bitter sweetness of a Karela Ki Sabji ... The softness and comfort of Paneer Kofta... The whiff of romance like a fragrant Mutton Biriyani ... The subtlety yet spiciness of a Keema Pav ... The wholeness and simplicity of Daal Chawal ... The added tang of a pickle ... The sweetness of a Rabdi and the twist of a Paan ...

The flavor of The Lunchbox lingers on your taste buds long after the ending credits roll ... making you long for a second helping and another helping and another ... The performances , the beautiful yet simple story of a love that begins with a small humanly mistake of probably the most efficient set of people in India and not to forget the brilliant ending which basically forces the viewer to make his/her assumption make The Lunchbox an excellent meal. A meal which is made and served with love that not only lingers in your taste buds but in your mind for days to come.

Irrfan Khan and Nawazuddin Siddqui in the film are like the wonderful south Indian breakfast combination of Idli-Vada ... you cannot imagine this combination without any one of the components. A beautiful and haunting turn by Nimrat Kaur. Its as if every meal she cooks or every dish she prepares... its her life in the dishes. Credit goes to Ritesh Batra for having a masterstroke in the form of the ever helping Aunty ... you got to watch the movie to find it out.

For once chuck the spicy fare or the continental gourmet creations ... go for this homemade meal ... Bhindi and Paneer Kofta never tasted this good.

Fmovies: Must watch with a full stomach, else you'll have a watering mouth every five minutes while watching the plot. India is a country where we give utmost importance to food & family. This story, packed in a Lunchbox, comes to your table & gives you a flavor of Indian ethnicity & the emotions we go through in everyday life !

The overcrowded local trains, Harvard certified Mumbai Dabbawalas, Amidst busy working hours, an irritating yet likable junior And the best friend "Aunty" to a direction less housewife

All this should be enough to drag you to the cinema house & enjoy the spicy curry in the LUNCHBOX.

To be able to write an involving story on something considered impossible is the hallmark of a good writer. 'The Lunchbox' is based on such a story surrounding the dabbawalas of Mumbai.

One mistake that brews a terrific relationship between two strangers, so delicately portrayed through the exchange of letters. There are only three actors in this film and each has delivered a stellar performance. None of them have many dialogues, but their expressions and motions depict their character in such an excellent manner, you wished there were even fewer lines! Irrfan proves with every new film that he in fact is the best 'Khan' of Bollywood and Nawazuddin can just not disappoint. He's used his GoW success to break into films such as this one and done justice to each role. Nimrat Kaur's simplicity throughout the film looks so effortless and yet so unbelievable for the Bollywood of today, which is ever so increasingly synonymous of excessive glamour and fashion.

Cinematography is average, but again, this isn't a 'visual' movie, it's more of a story. Direction looks great as Ritesh has been able to get the best out of his cast. Well, you'd have to try real hard to have Irrfan and Nawaz amidst your cast and yet churn a flop, but the director does deserve some credit.

In my opinion, this is the second best film of the year after Madras Cafe. I haven't seen Bhaag Milkha Bhaag though, so that might change things for me. Either way, this is in no way a bore or a drag as the film keeps you hooked onto the amazing story line and individual performances.

Enjoy!

The Lunchbox fmovies. THE LUNCHBOX- A poignant and heart warming tale that seems like a whiff of fresh air amidst all the hullabaloo the audiences have been exposed to in recent memory. It has depicted the pathos of 2 principal characters with panache n each n every single frame of the film seems to have been meticulously dealt with. One dialogue still lingers in your mind long after the film has finished "Sometimes the wrong train takes u to the right destination". It's so so good to see good ol' letters being exchanged in an era of e-mail, Facebook, Twitter, Whatsapp n mobile phones. Somewhere it touches the very core n essence of that golden era which I had never been born in but now surely have the experience to cherish it via such gems which come once in a long, long while. The best part is that all melodrama has been avoided except for the cameo by Lilette Dubey. All the emotions have been expressed in a very subtle manner in contrast to over-the-top melodrama which has been the staple diet of Bollywood films n how they play with our emotions by being tearjerkers. This film pricks your conscience n compels u to think. It makes u root for the protagonists even as they march onto their respective destinies. It makes u realize there's a silver lining of hope that really makes u fly. I really wish if it could be India's official entry to the Oscars for 2013.

An old saying repeated in Ritesh Batra's charming The Lunchbox is that sometimes the wrong train will bring you to the right station. In this case, however, the train turns out to be a dabba (lunchbox), wrongly delivered by a dabbawala to a middle-aged government claims adjuster on the brink of retirement. It works out well even though, in reality, with about 5,000 dabbawalas in the city of Mumbai who deliver more than 130,000 lunch boxes each day, they rarely make a mistake. Written by Stefan Tomke in the mode of You Got Mail, Ila (Nimrat Kaur), a young housewife dutifully prepares a lunch for her emotionally distant husband every day and has it sent to him via the courier.

On the advice of her upstairs Auntie, Mrs. Deshpande (Bharati Achreka), Ila tries to have her husband notice her by putting more spice in the food. When it is wrongly delivered to Saajan (Irrfan Khan, Life of Pi), however, a series of unintended consequences unfold. What begins with a short note from Sajaan to Ila that "the food was salty today" develops into a series of exchanges passed back and forth in the lunchbox everyday in which the two open up to each other about their lives, memories, and their hopes and dreams for the future. A subplot involving Aslam Shaikh (Nawazuddin Siddiqui), an aggressively upbeat successor to Sajaan, adds a touch of humor to the proceedings but also serves to draw a contrast between himself and the grumpy Saajan.

Both Aslam and Sajaan become more endearing, however, as the film progresses. While the ending may thwart expectations if you are used to having all the pieces neatly fit together, The Lunchbox mixes food and romance in a very appealing combination, removing any doubt that Ila and Sajaan have moved to a new level. Impeccably acted and beautifully realized, the film provides an honest appreciation of what it is like to live in Mumbai without exploiting its poverty for Western audiences. Though the wrong train may indeed bring you to the right station, ultimately there is no wrong train and no right station. As The Lunchbox demonstrates, there is just the train and the journey, and it's all perfect.

The first glimpse of the movie , promises you that it is't a 'just another regular bollywood movie', its refreshingly Fresh and New.

The beauty of the entire film lies in the subtlety, whether be it the story, the the actors, characters their mannerisms(when their lips quiver on getting excited, their long and deep searching eyes, the half smiles on the edges, when Ila first time presumes her husband to have an extra-marital affair). Again all of these things are very much there without they saying it explicitly so.

Very rarely you come across a movie that moves at a comfortable pace, not trying to either rush or stagnate itself at any point. The TG for this movie is definitely not people across all age groups as the producers claim, but it's specially for those who are happy or contented without searching for that something extra in their everyday lives. It doesn't talk about any extra ordinary accomplishments of individuals, nor does it talk about destiny, life or happiness. It just talks about very simple human behavior, when it comes to falling in love.

The end may or may not disappoint you...its very subjective(personally I was a lil), but yea you can tailor your apt end based on whether you are a optimist or a pessimist.