The Lunchbox

               For many years my mother has watched foreign films.  Sometimes I watch with her but mostly I don’t.  She likes to watch films with really dreary topics.  But when I came across The Lunchbox I thought it might be a film I would like to see.  The storyline seemed really sweet and it did not matter to me that there were subtitles.  All it meant was I could not easily do something else while I watched.  As great as this film is, I wouldn’t want to anyways.

                In India there is a lunchbox delivery service.  Lunches are made each day in homes and restaurants and picked up by men known as dabbawalas.  The dabbawalas take the lunchboxes and deliver them to the intended recipient at their place of work.  Once the lunch hour is over, the dabbawalas return for the now empty lunchboxes and bring them back to the sender.  It is an impeccable service that to my understanding rarely makes a mistake.  Everyone gets the lunch they are supposed to.  But what if one day someone didn’t?  That is where the story of The Lunchbox comes in.

                Ila’s (Nimrat Kaur) husband’s attentions have waned.  Rajiv (Nakul Vaid) comes home late and barely speaks to his wife or their daughter when he is there.  Not sure what to do, Ila consults her Auntie who lives upstairs.  They conjure up a plan to use special spices in Rajiv’s lunch in hopes it will ignite his heart.  After sending the lunch off with the dabbawala, all Ila can do is wait.  She hopes the spices work and Rajiv will return to her.

                When the lunchbox comes back, Ila is excited to see it is empty.  The spices must have worked.  She cannot wait for Rajiv to come home.

                Rajiv does come home, but he is not the changed man Ila expected.  Instead he is his usual cold self.  Ila can’t figure out what happened until Rajiv mentions a part of the lunch.  It is something Ila knows she did not make.  She now understands that the lunchbox must have gotten mixed up with another and that someone other than her husband ate the lunch she prepared.

                Happy that someone enjoyed her lunch, Ila writes a note to the person thanking them for taking such pleasure in what she made.  She puts the note in the lunchbox and hopes it gets to the proper person even though she does not know if the mix-up will happen again.

                It does.  The same man who received the lunch the day before receives it again.  He is Saajan (Irrfan Khan), a man on the brink of retirement.  Friendly would not be the word to describe him and he does whatever he can to push everyone away.  Expecting his lunch to come from a restaurant, Saajan was surprised to get such a great meal.  He is also surprised when he finds the note Ila sends the next day.  Reading the note Saajan understands why the restaurant’s food has improved so much.  He writes a reply to Ila, not to thank her for the food, but to let her know it was too salty.     

                Despite Saajan’s not so pleasant commentary, it starts a chain of letters between Ila and Sajaan that are delivered everyday through the lunchbox.  A friendship forms and it is not long before each looks forward to reading what the other has written.                       

                As they write to each other, both Ila’s and Saajan’s lives begin to change.  Ila discovers her husband has been cheating on her and she is not sure what to do about it.  On top of that, her ill father is very near death and her mother does not have the money for the medicine that might save him.

                Things are going a lot better for Saajan.  He has softened to those around him and begins to let them into his life.  One person Saajan befriends is the man set to take over his job upon his retirement.  Shaikh (Nawazuddin Siddiqui) is a persistent man who would not accept Saajan’s attempts to push him away.

                Eventually Ila and Saajan decide to meet.  They agree to meet at a restaurant during Saajan’s lunch break, but Saajan doesn’t show.  Ila leaves and writes to Saajan looking for an explanation.  He tells her that he did show up at the restaurant but he did not come to her table because he felt old.  Saajan also tells Ila their relationship should end.

                Not accepting Saajan’s rejection, Ila goes in search of him.  She tricks the dabbawala into telling her where the lunchbox has been going and makes her way to Saajan’s office.  Expecting to find Saajan, she is surprised when the man at Saajan’s desk introduces himself as Shaikh.  Saajan has retired and moved out of town.  As the move is new, Shaikh does not know how to reach Saajan and Ila returns home disappointed.

                What both Ila and Shaikh do not know is that Saajan has changed his mind about moving.  He has realized that Ila is too important in his life to let go.  Saajan returns home and goes about finding Ila.  It does not matter how, but he will find Ila one way or another.

                Something I love about this film is it’s not about romantic love. Easily it could have fallen in that direction, but it didn’t. The two main characters didn’t embark on some illicit affair and that was not the point of their letter writing. It was an innocent act that developed into a friendship and a fondness for each other. There wasn’t anything scandalous which is unfortunately rare in the film and TV world. Not everything has to be a big deal. A friend can be a friend. Do I feel Saajan developed some romantic feelings? Yes. But I believe in the end it was the companionship that mattered more. Ila saw and cared about Saajan as a person. He did the same with Ila. Isn’t that what most people want in life? To be seen for who they are and not as a role? This film shows the good things that happen when we do.