The Lunchbox [2013]

Language - Hindi
Director - Ritesh Batra
Run Time - 1 hour, 45 minutes
Genre - Drama

The Lunchbox. Such an emotional, heart warming movie. A gem of Indian cinema. Shocked that this movie was not nominated for the Academy award's foreign film category. This was by far one of the best Hindi movies of last year. Simple and sweet, yet leaves you with a melted heart.
Irrfan Khan is a proven actor, with international acclaim, and Nawazuddin Siddiqui is the new upcoming talent in Bollywood. Nimrat Kaur too gives a good performance.

This movie revolves around the 'dabba' or lunchbox, which is being delivered by 'dabbawallas' - a group of hardworking and sincere delivery men, who almost never fail to deliver at the right place [Studied and proven by Harvard as one of them exclaimed]

Saajan [Irrfan Khan] is a grouchy old widow, who has lived his life in a schedule ever since his wife died. He works as an accountant for the state. He is soon to retire, thus he is asked to train Shaikh [Nawazuddin Siddiqui] as his replacement. Whereas Illa [Nimrat Kaur] is a lonely housewife, ever trying to please her husband with advice from the 'aunty' who lives upstairs. Being a fantastic cook, she tries to reach her husband through the stomach, and here comes he twist - the 'dabba'  destined for the husband reaches Saajan. This leads to the start of a blooming romance through notes left in the dabba.

Would you imagine, out of millions you see everyday, one would fall in love through meals and notes shared?
This movie shows a unique tale of two unique people and how uniquely they fall in love. And though it might irk some people, the filmmaker does it right by leaving us to wonder what happens.

Although the film is a bit predictable, it is yet enjoyable, and is a relief from the nonsensical and cliched movies releasing year round. Give it a watch

My Rating - 8/10