The Lunch Box

Nimrat Kaur

Certain movies have the ability to charm an audience from the get go. They are as rare as hens' teeth, so when they do come along, it is important to big them up so everyone has a chance to enjoy their delights.
The Lunch Box is one of those films.
A mistake by Mumbai's notoriously efficient lunchbox delivery company, accidentally connects a young housewife , (who is making meals for her unloving husband ) with a grieving accountant on the verge of retirement. Their chaste romantic correspondence which takes place via short letters hidden in the aforementioned lunchbox, enables the unhappy pair to move on in their lives.
Yes, think Brief Encounter  crossed with Slumdog Millionaire and you may get a bit of a gist of where director Ritesh Batra is coming from. Seldom I have seen a film that captures perfectly a real sense of the culture which it wants to portray.
The leading actors are a delight to watch . Irrfan Khan and the beautiful Nimrat Kaur are incredibly moving as the sad widower and lonely housewife and although they are never really seen in the same scene together, their chemistry together is powerfully evident and surprisingly tangible

This film is the best thing I have seen all year.
It will make you cry, it will make you laugh and it will make you fall in love with a city not always known ......
for its sweet charm.
9/10

Iffran Khan with his lunchbox