Wind the clock back to an age when friends communicated by letter rather than text, email or mobile phone, when crowded cities were crowded with crowded buses in rush hour and when office workers used pens and paper and added up numbers in their heads.
These are some of the now strikingly old fashioned sights of The Lunchbox, already a big hit at various international film festivals, and now arriving in the UK with a reputation as a sure-fire crowd pleaser and the latest Indian film to cross over to a wider audience.
The film’s credentials are strong; produced by and starring Irrfan Khan of The Warrior and last year’s megahit The Life of Pi, The Lunchbox combines vivid, bustling scenes of daily life in the teeming city of Mumbai with a universal and unashamedly old fashioned romantic story reminiscent of 84 Charing Cross Road.
Khan plays Saajan, a soon-to-retire and world weary office worker whose daily routine includes a lunchbox delivered to his desk by one of Mumbai’s dabbawalas, renowned for the efficiency of their service. When one day he begins to receive the wrong lunchbox – containing unusually tasty home cooking – he’s prompted to begin an unlikely romance, via an exchange of notes, with Ila the unhappy housewife who prepares the food intended for her husband.
Mostly subtle and understated, director and screenwriter Ritesh Batra steers clear of sentimentality leaving a rich and satisfying drama which lingers long after the closing credits and will have you daydreaming about life in Bhutan, the world’s happiest place.
