MOVIE REVIEW

                                                  LUNCH BOX

Film Name: Lunch Box
Director: Ritesh Batra
Cast: Irrfan Khan, Nimrat Kaur, Nawaz Uddin Siddiqui, Lillete Dubey, Bharati Achrekar, Nakul Vaid.and Arun Rangachari. 

The Lunchbox is a 2013 Indian epistolary romantic film written and directed by Ritesh Batra, and produced by Guneet Monga, Anurag Kashyap film was jointly produced by various studios including DAR motion pictures, UTV motion pictures, Dharma productions, Sikhya Entertainment, NFDC (India), ROH Films (Germany), ASAP Films (France), and the Cine Mosaic (United States). It stars Irrfan khan,Nimrat kaur and Nawazuddin Siddiqui in lead roles. The film was screened at 'International Critics Week' at the 2013 Cannes festival, and later won the Critics Week Viewers Choice Award also known as Grand Rail d'Or. It was shown at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival. The film was released in India on 20 September 2013. The film has done well at the box office.

Plot:

Saajan has been grieving since his wife died. Ila on the other hand wants to seek her husband's attention to rekindle their love and hopes to cook her way through her husband's heart. Through a rare mixup of the famous "dabbawalas" of Mumbai, the lunchbox with the delicious food Ila had prepared for her husband instead gets delivered to Saajan. Realizing the mistake of the delivery, she writes Saajan a note about it. Then unfolds an episode in their life in a series of compelling and sincere notes they exchange through the lunchbox. Soon, she finds out that her husband is having an affair and writes to Saajan about it, suggesting that she wants to move to Bhutan since the people there are known to be happy. Sajan contemplates moving with her and writes back asking if she will be ready to move to Bhutan with him. Ila writes back saying she would like to meet him first. They arrange to meet at a popular food joint, but Saajan doesn't turn up and a dejected Ila sends an empty lunchbox the next day. Saajan writes to her saying that he did arrive, but did not meet her because he considered himself to be too old for her and asks her to move on. Ila soon finds out the place where Saajan works and goes to meet him, but there she learns that Saajan had already quit the job by then and is headed to Nashik. The movie comes to an end with Saajan returning from Nashik and going in search of Ila with the Dabbawalas song being played in the background.

Production:

Ritesh Batra, who had made short films, The Morning Ritual, Gareeb Nawaz ki Taxi and Cafe Regular', 'Cairo, started researching for a documentary on the famous Lunchbox delivery system of Mumbai, dabbawala, known for their efficiency, however after spending a week with them in 2007, he got to know of many interesting personal stories they would overhear while waiting outside an apartment. This idea gave birth to the idea of the film, and instead of making the documentary he began writing a film script. In time the film became joint production between Sikhya Entertainment, DAR motion pictures, National Film development corporation of India (NFDC), India, ROH Films, Germany, ASAP Films, France and the Cine Mosaic, US of Lydia Dean Pilcher who previously produced films like and The Nameshake (2007), and Germany's Match Factory became its international sales agent.

Writing

Batra completed the first draft of the screenplay in 2011, it went on to win an Honorable Jury Mention at the 2012 Cinemart at the Rotterdam International Film Festival. Thereafter the project was part of the Talent Project Market of Berlin International Film Festival and was mentored at the screenwriter's lab (Torino Film Lab) at the Torino Film festival The character of Ila played by Nimrat Kaur, six months prior to the shooting, and the character played by Nawazuddin Siddiqui was further developed and improvised during shooting.

Casting

Irrfan Khan liked the script of the film and the concept of his character, not speaking much but talking through notes. After seeing Batra's short film and a couple of meetings he agreed to act in the film. Batra wanted to work with Nawazuddin Siddiqui, another principal character of the film, for a long time. For the female lead, auditions were conducted, wherein Nimrat Kaur was selected. Kaur had extensive experience at the Mumbai theatre and worked in films like Peddlers Some of the dabbawalas who the director befriended while researching for the film, also have been cast in minor roles.

Filming

The film was shot in 2012 in Mumbai at a budget of ₹100 million. Prior to the filming, the cast rehearsed for six months. It was shot using the Arri Alexa digital film camera. Many of the scenes were logistically broken down to make way for last minute location changes. Mumbai's famous dabbawalas were provided actual lunch-boxes to deliver, were followed by a four member film crew, which filmed the process in documentary style.

 Screening:

The film was screened on 19 May 2013 as a part of the International critics' week at the 2013 CAnnes Film Festival, where it received a standing ovation and positive reviews.and won the Critics Week Viewers Choice Award also known as Grand Rail d'Or. Variety called it "a notable debut from tyro helmer-scripter", for creating a film with "crossover appeal of Monsoon Wedding", and also praised acting of Irrfan Khan and Nimrat Kaur.

Box office

The Lunchbox had a good start in first weekend in India, grossing Rs 70 million in first 3 days. The film collected around Rs 110 million in first week. The film continued to gross significant amounts over the next few weeks, earning over Rs 200 million in the first three weeks and another Rs 40-50 million in the fourth week. Thereafter, Sony pictures classics picked up all North American rights for distribution.In India, this film was released in more than 400 screens on 20 September 2013."The Lunch Box is desolation, loneliness and perfection!"