Directed by : Ritesh Batra
Imdb link -> http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2350496/
Among best movies to have come this year...
Read at your own risk, the post is full of spoilers.
Kabhi kabhi galat train bhi sahi jagah pahuncha deti hai ...
Some films are so good, that you keep thinking about them days after you see them. 'The Lunchbox' falls in that category.
Its a story driven movie, where the three main characters Irrfan Khan (Saajan), Nimrat Kaur (Ila) and Nawazuddin Siddiqui (Shaikh) have given excellent performances. The story is set in Mumbai, where Saajan is about to retire from his work, and Shaikh who is going to take his place in office is asked to work under Saajan until he retires. One day at lunch, Saajan is surprised to see changes in the lunchbox including the taste and variety of food. Dabbawalla's mistakenly replaced his lunchbox address with Ila's husband. And then starts a series of letters exchanged inside the lunchbox.
The theme to me is very similar to internet or phone based love story, here also two people have conversations without seeing or meeting each other. Ritesh starts the film by establishing the complete journey a Dabbawala in Mumbai go through, from the house to road to train to the delivering place. He uses initial scenes well to establish Saajan and Ila characters before they both start exchanging letters. Saajan's habit of standing outside his house at night, smoking ciggerette and looking at a girl's family, same girl among those kids who daily ask him to give their ball back. On the other hand, Ila lives a life of similar loneliness as her husband shows no love whatsoever towards her. Her time goes by, either doing the household activities, looking after her girl, or the talks with her 'aunty' who stays one floor above her house. The aunty herself has her own small story that is told as the narrative goes further.
There's a pleasant humour initially when Saajan and Ila start talking through letters, then the talks go personal as both share things about their life. How quickly, from complete strangers, they form a close friend bond before actually feeling its much more than that, as Saajan thinks of a life with her in Bhutan, a place Ila finds peaceful. That dialogue 'We forget things, if we have no one to tell them to', was one of my favourite one.
I love how the scene where Saajan goes to meet Ila first time is tackled, specially the coincidences that happen that day with him, the old feeling while going to bathroom, or a young boy calling him 'uncle'. But, he had fallen for her, and he won't resist going to have a look at her from far away without letting Ila know.
Then that scene in train, when he looks at a very old man who is going to same place where Saajan is going too. Cut to next scene where Saajan is shown returning back to his home, in a mode describing he has decided he would not go away from Ila despite the age difference.
Also, the woman and girl sequence shown in earlier part of movie, gives a feeling of maybe this is another Ila who died, when the same scene repeats in latter part of movie. For a second, I thought she is about to commit suicide too.
The two weaknesses in the movie were editing and Ila's mother played by Lilette Dubey. In a film that was going very real, we finally had a character who was taking the narrative into melodrama mode. But, the good thing here was, that she had only 2 scenes. While at many points I liked the way scenes are extended, like when Saajan while working knowing Dabbawala has come, stops and anxiously waits for his Dabba being put on his table.. I like how the time frame is used in that scene making us wait too. But there were places where editing could had been tighter.
There are few loopholes in the writing, how would Ila's husband not know that the dabba has got changed if he has been daily eating it before. The other one I felt was, Ila began telling about her problems with husband to Saajan bit too early. Maybe few more conversations would had given that space for her to share such private matters.
Love the open ending of the movie, though I would had preferred one additional scene which may not have given away whether Ila and Saajan would had met, but just given a % chance what would happen. As of now, it was equally possible that it may or may not happen. But, I very much like the given end to film too.
There's no song in the movie, except for the one that plays when Dabbawallas journey is shown. Even the background score is used to a minimum. The famous old song 'Mera dil bhi itna pagal hai' is wonderfully used into the narrative. Also, the parrallel songs cut from radio at Ila's house to small kids singing in trains as Saajan returns back to his home.
Irrfan Khan is an outstanding actor, and he shows it once again with his performance as Saajan. The way he looks at the Dabba everytime it comes, the awkward moments he has when his colleague looks at him checking dabba while at work, or when Shaikh keeps disturbing him when he is reading letters. When he tells the reference to 'Yeh jo hai zindagi' serial, the emotional connect in his voice. Or when he tries to avoid Shaikh initially, 'go to my table, and no don't come back'. He is one hell of a great actor, and this film does justice to his talent.
Nimrat Kaur surprises with the kind of great performance she gives in. To be able to match actors like Irfan and Nawazzuddin, speaks of how well she acted. And I always love to see actresses do non-glamarous roles.
Nawazuddin Siddiqui is spot on, though initially his character is irritating, as audience you feel the same way Saajan feels for him. Nawazuddin actually gets a scene to overshadow Irfan, when he tells him 'main khud seekh lunga, thank you'. From there on, the kind of bond they both share, was similar to the bond audience shares with him. He still does funnier things, cutting vegetables on office files in train, or not feeling too guilty after getting scolding from boss. But he's now become a likeable character. The wedding scene was super funny when cameraperson asks for 'ladki ki taraf wale ek side, ladki wale dusri side'. Also, that scene where Irrfan scares him about a guy he had pushed onto the bus.
Overall, The Lunchbox is one of best films to come this year, its full of emotions, at times humourous and the three main characters make this less than 2 hour movie very enjoyable. There are close up scenes of food shown at many instances, so the movie might make you feel hungry.
If you are looking for entertainment, then I am not sure if the movie will satisfy you but if you are looking for a good movie, you won't be dissappointed.
Verdict : EXCELLENT
Imdb link -> http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2350496/
Among best movies to have come this year...
Read at your own risk, the post is full of spoilers.
Kabhi kabhi galat train bhi sahi jagah pahuncha deti hai ...
Some films are so good, that you keep thinking about them days after you see them. 'The Lunchbox' falls in that category.
Its a story driven movie, where the three main characters Irrfan Khan (Saajan), Nimrat Kaur (Ila) and Nawazuddin Siddiqui (Shaikh) have given excellent performances. The story is set in Mumbai, where Saajan is about to retire from his work, and Shaikh who is going to take his place in office is asked to work under Saajan until he retires. One day at lunch, Saajan is surprised to see changes in the lunchbox including the taste and variety of food. Dabbawalla's mistakenly replaced his lunchbox address with Ila's husband. And then starts a series of letters exchanged inside the lunchbox.
The theme to me is very similar to internet or phone based love story, here also two people have conversations without seeing or meeting each other. Ritesh starts the film by establishing the complete journey a Dabbawala in Mumbai go through, from the house to road to train to the delivering place. He uses initial scenes well to establish Saajan and Ila characters before they both start exchanging letters. Saajan's habit of standing outside his house at night, smoking ciggerette and looking at a girl's family, same girl among those kids who daily ask him to give their ball back. On the other hand, Ila lives a life of similar loneliness as her husband shows no love whatsoever towards her. Her time goes by, either doing the household activities, looking after her girl, or the talks with her 'aunty' who stays one floor above her house. The aunty herself has her own small story that is told as the narrative goes further.
There's a pleasant humour initially when Saajan and Ila start talking through letters, then the talks go personal as both share things about their life. How quickly, from complete strangers, they form a close friend bond before actually feeling its much more than that, as Saajan thinks of a life with her in Bhutan, a place Ila finds peaceful. That dialogue 'We forget things, if we have no one to tell them to', was one of my favourite one.
I love how the scene where Saajan goes to meet Ila first time is tackled, specially the coincidences that happen that day with him, the old feeling while going to bathroom, or a young boy calling him 'uncle'. But, he had fallen for her, and he won't resist going to have a look at her from far away without letting Ila know.
Then that scene in train, when he looks at a very old man who is going to same place where Saajan is going too. Cut to next scene where Saajan is shown returning back to his home, in a mode describing he has decided he would not go away from Ila despite the age difference.
Also, the woman and girl sequence shown in earlier part of movie, gives a feeling of maybe this is another Ila who died, when the same scene repeats in latter part of movie. For a second, I thought she is about to commit suicide too.
The two weaknesses in the movie were editing and Ila's mother played by Lilette Dubey. In a film that was going very real, we finally had a character who was taking the narrative into melodrama mode. But, the good thing here was, that she had only 2 scenes. While at many points I liked the way scenes are extended, like when Saajan while working knowing Dabbawala has come, stops and anxiously waits for his Dabba being put on his table.. I like how the time frame is used in that scene making us wait too. But there were places where editing could had been tighter.
There are few loopholes in the writing, how would Ila's husband not know that the dabba has got changed if he has been daily eating it before. The other one I felt was, Ila began telling about her problems with husband to Saajan bit too early. Maybe few more conversations would had given that space for her to share such private matters.
Love the open ending of the movie, though I would had preferred one additional scene which may not have given away whether Ila and Saajan would had met, but just given a % chance what would happen. As of now, it was equally possible that it may or may not happen. But, I very much like the given end to film too.
There's no song in the movie, except for the one that plays when Dabbawallas journey is shown. Even the background score is used to a minimum. The famous old song 'Mera dil bhi itna pagal hai' is wonderfully used into the narrative. Also, the parrallel songs cut from radio at Ila's house to small kids singing in trains as Saajan returns back to his home.
Irrfan Khan is an outstanding actor, and he shows it once again with his performance as Saajan. The way he looks at the Dabba everytime it comes, the awkward moments he has when his colleague looks at him checking dabba while at work, or when Shaikh keeps disturbing him when he is reading letters. When he tells the reference to 'Yeh jo hai zindagi' serial, the emotional connect in his voice. Or when he tries to avoid Shaikh initially, 'go to my table, and no don't come back'. He is one hell of a great actor, and this film does justice to his talent.
Nimrat Kaur surprises with the kind of great performance she gives in. To be able to match actors like Irfan and Nawazzuddin, speaks of how well she acted. And I always love to see actresses do non-glamarous roles.
Nawazuddin Siddiqui is spot on, though initially his character is irritating, as audience you feel the same way Saajan feels for him. Nawazuddin actually gets a scene to overshadow Irfan, when he tells him 'main khud seekh lunga, thank you'. From there on, the kind of bond they both share, was similar to the bond audience shares with him. He still does funnier things, cutting vegetables on office files in train, or not feeling too guilty after getting scolding from boss. But he's now become a likeable character. The wedding scene was super funny when cameraperson asks for 'ladki ki taraf wale ek side, ladki wale dusri side'. Also, that scene where Irrfan scares him about a guy he had pushed onto the bus.
Overall, The Lunchbox is one of best films to come this year, its full of emotions, at times humourous and the three main characters make this less than 2 hour movie very enjoyable. There are close up scenes of food shown at many instances, so the movie might make you feel hungry.
If you are looking for entertainment, then I am not sure if the movie will satisfy you but if you are looking for a good movie, you won't be dissappointed.
Verdict : EXCELLENT
