In Mumbai, there is a lunchbox
delivery service called the dabawallas. These men pick up hot
lunches either from customers' homes or from restaurants, and deliver
them to workers at lunchtime. Then they pick up the empties and haul
them back home. It's a fascinating system that utilizes bicycles,
trains, and men on foot. Many of the workers are illiterate, so a
system of colors and codes is used on the boxes to get them where
they belong. Mistakes are supposedly rare.
“The Lunchbox” is the story of one
such mistake and how it changes two people's lives. The lovely
Nimrat Kaur plays Ila, a lonely housewife who hopes to win back her
husband's love by cooking him delicious lunches, which she sends to
him at work via dabawalla. With advice from her upstairs neighbor,
she prepares the most beautiful food I have seen on-screen since “Eat
Drink Man Woman.” It's entirely possible these meals could cure
her husband's wandering eye, but unfortunately he never gets to eat
them. The dabawallas mistakenly deliver his lunches to Saajan (Irfan
Khan), a dour, lonely widower in a government office. Saajan simply
thinks that the restaurant that usually provides his meals has
suddenly experienced a dramatic improvement in quality. On the other
end, Ila quickly figures out the mistake when she gets no reaction
from her husband regarding his lunch.
The obvious thing to do would be to
tell her husband that a mistake was made and get things sorted out
with the dabbawallas. For Ila, however, feeding her husband is an
intensely intimate act, and she feels betrayed that he “ate someone
else's food and didn't even notice.” Indeed, it feels like a
corresponding act of infidelity when Ila continues to send lunches to
Saajan, along with little notes. Saajan starts sending his own notes
back in the empty lunchbox, and the two gradually get to know each
other.
I'll tell you right now that there are
no sex scenes in this film. No one gets shot or blown up either, and
yet a great deal happens. Ila finds the courage to leave her
loveless marriage, a very difficult act in a culture where un-married
women are not valued. Saajan, meanwhile, finds himself at a
crossroads, where he will either quietly fade into retirement and old
age or find the energy to jump back into life.
“The Lunchbox” is incredibly rich
in cultural detail, and it's fascinating to watch these people live
out their personal crises amidst the throngs of Mumbai. Without
hitting you over the head with it, the film makes you think about
how, even in a city of millions, each individual is living his own
story, and how easy it is to be lonely among the masses. Khan and
Kaur provide understated performances of incredible depth, and the
food is a performance all its own. The acting and the food combine
with the sight, sounds, and practically the smells of Mumbai to make
“The Lunchbox” a satisfying meal.
4 stars out of 5
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