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| An information-packed modern specialty release poster for Ritesh Batra's The Lunchbox |
An unfulfilled housewife in Mumbai one day gets her husband's lunchbox delivered to the wrong man, an equally unfulfilled accountant. Her husband doesn't notice the mix-up and doesn't appreciate his wife, who ventures forth on a correspondence with the accountant stranger, who values her.
The Lunchbox is written and directed by debuting Ritesh Batra (Our Souls at Night (2017)) with Vasan Bala (Peddlers (2012)) supplying some dialog. Despite the marketing, which indicates a bubbly romance, The Lunchbox is mostly quite sad SPOILER and actually never really develops into a regular romance, - only perhaps after its ending, - because the accountant decides to hold back, when he meets the younger woman who has been sending him lunchboxes and letters.
Despite fine observations and humanity, the film stands a bit too still and appears somewhat as an overlong short film more than a full-bodied feature. Weighing up are keen insights into social and societal dynamics in Batra's birth city Mumbai and in India on the whole, as well as some amusing episodes.
Related post:
Ritesh Batra: 2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED V]
Watch a trailer for the film here
Cost: 3.1 mil. $
Box office: 17.24 mil. $
= Huge hit (returned 5.56 times its cost)
[The Lunchbox premiered 19 May (Cannes Film Festival, France, critics' week section) and runs 105 minutes. Batra started the project in 2007. 15 companies were involved with the funding and creating of the film. The actors reportedly rehearsed together prior to filming for 6 months, which seems a dubious fact. Shooting took place in 29 days in 2012 in Mumbai, India. The film opened #53 to a 44k $ first weekend in 3 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #18 and in 165 cinemas, grossing 4.2 mil. $ (24.4 % of the total gross) during its long 29-week release there. It was the year's 3rd highest-grossing Indian film outside of India. It was nominated for a BAFTA, won 2/3 Asian Film award nominations and several other honors. Controversy arose when the Film Federation of India chose another film as its Oscar entry of the year over The Lunchbox, namely The Good Road. Batra returned with Masterchef (2014, short) and theatrically with The Sense of an Ending (2017). Irrfan Khan (Jurassic World (2015)) returned in Meridian Lines (2013), Nimrat Kaur (Peddlers (2012)) in 3 shorts, Homeland (2014, TV-series) and theatrically in Airlift (2016). The Lunchbox is certified fresh at 96 % with a 7.7/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
What do you think of The Lunchbox?
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