In short order, both parties realize that “the thing that never happens” has happened and a mutual correspondence begins. But instead, the lunchbox lands on the desk of Saajan (Irrfan Khan of Life of Pi and Slumdog Millionaire), a widower and soon-to-be retiree whose profound sadness is conveyed through his big brown eyes, so that little backstory is required. Once the dabbawala arrives, Ila sends her meal along with great expectation: This lunch, with Auntie’s special ingredients, is meant to reach her husband’s heart through his stomach – apparently an old adage of many cultures.
We never see Auntie she is a voice who calls down from on high (literally) with sage wisdom and who delivers special ingredients for Ila’s prepared meals via a basket tied to a string. Meanwhile, Ila (beautiful and talented Nimrat Kaur) prepares a meal with great care with the assistance of her upstairs neighbor whom she calls Auntie, as all young women refer to older women in traditional India. The unthinkable happensĪs The Lunchbox opens, Mumbai’s dabbawalas crisscross the city picking up tins in brightly colored carrying bags they dangle precariously off their bikes and scooters as they make their way through the city. In Mumbai, the decades-old system for delivering lunch to thousands of office workers in the city’s densely populated business district is legendary.Īs pointed out in The Lunchbox, Harvard management experts have studied the low-tech system to understand its efficacy, which involves hundreds of delivery men ( dabbawalas) collecting hand-packed lunches, whether made at home or in restaurants, in specially designed “tins” the transit of these tins by bike, scooter, and train and their timely delivery to the individual desks of specific recipients, all by the lunch hour. In any case, The Lunchbox should certainly get a shot at filmgoer’s wallets, particularly those who appreciate quality movies. Even so, Batra’s drama would have been a worthy competitor among this year’s somewhat vexing selection of the world’s best films. True, The Lunchbox might also have been bypassed by the Academy’s Best Foreign Language Film voters, who, for various disqualifying reasons, missed a number of films that ought to have been in competition, among them Gloria, Blue Is the Warmest Color, In the Fog, and Touch of Sin.
We have not seen The Good Road, but it better be really good otherwise, the harsh criticism of the Film Federation of India will be justified: Writer-director Ritesh Batra’s debut feature, The Lunchbox is an exceptional film, crafted to present an India that is profoundly traditional yet “emotionally modern,” with characters engaged in deep reflection on the past and the deepest consideration of the future.
The Film Federation chose instead Gyan Correa’s The Good Road, which failed to be shortlisted by the Academy. This was reported as controversial at the time, notably in the Indian film community. The Lunchbox / Dabba was not the Film Federation of India’s submission for this year’s Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award.