Tuesday, May 20, 2014

The Lunchbox (Dabba) (2013)

Director: Ritesh Batra. Cast: Irrfan Khan, Nimrat Kaur, Nawazuddin Siddiqui.104 min. Rated PG. India/France/Germany/USA. Drama/Romance.

Through the famously efficient Indian dabbawala lunch delivery system, a soon-to-retire older widower in an insurance company mistakenly receives a tasty lunch from an unhappy young housewife, and as both catch on to the error, paper correspondence via the lunchbox (and romance) ensues. A delightful drama with a tin box working as the MacGuffin, superb acting by Irrfan Khan, and powerful moments to remind us how we take people around us for granted, and how we should cling on to life and love while it lasts. After all, "... Sometimes even the wrong train can take you to the right station."

PS: The film was the winner of almost 50 awards and nominations at international film festivals.

Mo says:

2 comments:

  1. OMG .You brought the exact quote here already ?!! ;))
    The most important point about a movie is in spite of having a quite sad theme, it has several funny moments . Even after 1 week of watching when I remember his colleague's face ,staring at him and wondering why he cares a lot about his lunch , I'm laughing aloud.:)))
    Did you notice the movie doesn't have any score ? From Bollywood ,no music ? shows how artistic mind was behind of that ,....most probably to magnify the impact of story and it was successful.

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    1. Good point - I never noticed that. The two aspects that after three weeks still remain with me, are (1) the unusually efficient lunch delivery system, and (2) how we never appreciate the moments we have, until its too late. Irrfan Khan's character suffers from this everyday tragedy, and I believe that's what pushes him to his final decision.

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