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The Lunchbox (2013)
The Lunchbox
(2013)
General Information
Completed On: 20 Sep, 2013
Duration: 1 hr 44 min 0 sec
Genres: Fiction
Language: Hindi
Country: India
Submitted By: Anna Maurice
Festival Rating
Ritesh Batra’s The Lunchbox is a film about loneliness and emotional wiltedness. A widower, Saajan Fernandes (Irrfan Khan), lives alone in an aged, slightly dingy house in Bandra, Mumbai, and works at an insurance company as an accountant. He is standoffish and reclusive, almost misanthropic, bogged down by the weight of unexpressed feelings. He silently labours over reams of paper files and eats his lunch, delivered by a dabbawala, alone in the office’s sparse canteen. Batra, also the screenplay writer, invests Saajan and his surroundings with the kind of existentialism that is all too familiar in a big city. The Lunchbox with its cinematography, direction, screenplay and almost every other element paints a truly vibrant story with palpable emotions that transcends through the screen and imprints onto one's heart. Watching this movie was an immensely satisfying experience. It is a story that would strike a chord with anybody, anywhere. There isn't much complexity. It derives its soul and effectiveness in good performances and Batra’s elegant economy in executing his material. Although it is about sad characters, The Lunchbox has a safety-cap of feel-good reassurance. One of the joys of watching a movie is identifying and empathizing with characters that we have known or have ourselves been, and in the consolation that we are not alone. There is also all the Punjabi food that Ila (Nimrat Kaur), the grief-stricken but tenacious lead woman, cooks—we see hands dipped in batter before the coated paneer chunks go into simmering oil and the act of eating with slow relish. Already a global festival favourite, Batra’s film, besides being a very comforting watch, is a representative Indian film in that the food-obsessed Indian is in almost every frame.
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DirectorsRitesh Batra
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WritersRitesh Batra(screenplay)
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WritersVasan Bala(hindi dialogue consultant)
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Film TypeFiction
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GenresDrama, Romance, Family
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Runtime1 hours 44 minutes 0 seconds
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Completion Date20 Sep, 2013
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Production BudgetUSD
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Country of OriginIndia
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Country of FilmingIndia
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Film LanguageHindi
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Shooting Format
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Aspect Ratio
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Film ColorColor
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Student ProjectNo
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First-time FilmmakerNo
Director's Biography
Batra is widely known for his debut feature film The Lunchbox starring Irrfan Khan, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, and Nimrat Kaur, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 2013 and won Rail d’Or (Grand Golden Rail). Batra also won the Toronto Film Critics Association Award for Best First Feature Film in 2014. The Lunchbox has been called the highest-grossing foreign film in North America, Europe and Australia for the year of 2014 grossing over 25 Million USD/180 Crore INR.
Batra began his filmmaking career by writing and directing shorts. His Arab language short Café Regular, Cairo, screened at over 40 international film festivals and won over 12 awards including Critics Prize (FIPRESCI) Best Film at International Short Film Festival Oberhausen and Best Film at German Star of India. Batra was part of the Sundance Screenwriters and Directors lab with his project "Story of Ram" in 2009. He subsequently was made the Time Warner Story Telling Fellow at Sundance Film Festival and Annenberg Fellow at Sundance Film Academy. In 2011 Batra came to India to make a documentary on the lunchbox delivery system in Mumbai. It was this venture of Batra's which conceptualized his first feature film The Lunchbox (2013). He developed this project through the TorinoFilmLab Framework programme in 2012.
The Lunchbox premiered at the Cannes Critics Week 2013 and won Rail d’Or (Grand Golden Rail). At Cannes, the movie prompted a bidding war. Sony Pictures Classic acquired the North American rights of the film. The Lunchbox has been nominated for 33 Awards and won 25 so far. In 2014, Batra founded his own production company PoeticLicense Motion Pictures and currently developing a slate of films.
