The Lunchbox - Movie Review
(SPOILERS)
Director: Ritesh Batra
Cast: Irrfan Khan, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Nimrat Kaur
Duration: 1hr 58min
The plot is quite simple. Fernandez (Irrfan) works in his office, and accidentally gets delivered the wrong lunchbox, and happens to love it. This film follows the life of two people. Fernandez and Ila. (Nimrat Kaur)
The opening scene is masterful. We understand the working of the city of Mumbai. We see the little things about what the average person does, ranging from the working man, to a working kid. The opening scene sets up the city as a character, and this character is extremely vital.
One of the beautiful scenes of the film, is when a bitter Fernandez, refuses to return the children's cricket ball, goes to his balcony in the night, and watches a family eating food together. We don't care about this man enough, until that scene. He watches the family eat together, and struggles to look at it, because he's viewing something that's out of his reach. Something that he wishes, but cannot have.
This is the scene that establishes his loneliness. His internal longing for bonding, but his external and bitter persona restricting any relationship. And all this character work is brilliantly done just through the use of visual storytelling; which I feel is always more emotionally resonant.
As the letters within the lunchboxes are read everyday, the characters open up about each other. In a busy city like Mumbai where everyone's rushing, these characters are broken people who want to open up and speak of their thoughts and life; it's beautiful to see these two strangers expressing theirselves.
Nimrat Kaur gorgeously portrays the charisma, as well as brokenness of Ila.
Fernandez is mainly lonely because of his wife's death. But the film makes sure that it's also partially his fault for 'staying' lonely.
Ila has a daughter and husband, and her husband rarely pays any attention to her. They're in a loveless marriage, and this makes Ila feel alone.
Shaikh is Fernandez's colleague, who was hired to eventually replace Fernandez after his soon planned retirement. This was a very difficult role and character to play, because he has to ride the lines between annoying and empathetic.
In the beginning he might seem a little annoying, but Nawzuddin's personality and charm makes him engaging to watch. He works, because he's a character that plays against Fernandez's personality, yet wants to learn from, and be friends with him.
The film still manages to be unpredictable, but still progresses it's characters perfectly. There are many scenes that are entirely dependent on the performances. One of my favourite scenes is when Shaikh is asking Fernandez to come from his side for his wedding. The transition from vulnerable and hesitant, to glad and accepting is just heartwarming to watch, and Nawazuddin and Irrfan just nail it here.
The film doesn't in a "perfect" way, in the sense that, it doesn't end "happily ever after." Throughout the duration of the film, we're waiting for Fernandez and Ila to meet, and marry, and live their life. But that never happens. It leaves us waiting. It's for us to interpret. Now, honestly speaking, I can't really explain why it ended like this. And I'm not going to give you a smart sounding answer to explain it.
The friendship between Fernandez and Shaikh concludes perfectly. He attends his wedding, in order to not make his friend feel alone. And when he has to leave, he stops for a second, and bids Shaikh goodbye, acknowledging his presence, and companionship. This resolution is composed through just expressions, and it's glorious.
The Lunchbox is a masterpiece that talks about loneliness in different ways and different people. It's already one of my favourite films ever made, and deserves to be watched by as many people as possible.
Thank Your for Reading
I hope you liked this blog review, please make sure to comment about your thoughts on the film, or on how I could possibly improve. Also follow my YouTube Channel "Detox with P-Talks Official" where I analyse movies and do other movie related content along with short films, etc.
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