Overview
The Lunchbox is a romantic drama set amongst the bustling city of Mumbai but it's nothing like a Bollywood film. Widowed office clerk Saajan (Life of Pi's Irrfan Khan) starts exchanging letters with bored housewife Ila (Nimrat Kaur) after the lunch she routinely cooks for her husband starts going to the wrong desk.
She's delighted when the containers return empty and later, when she finds out it wasn't sent to her husband, she writes to thank the recipient. Ila is an incredible cook, she just happens to have a douchebag of a husband. At first Ila and Saajan's correspondence is limited to small talk about food but they gradually start to confide in one another. They learn the value of changing course, or in the words of Saajan's colleague that "the wrong train can get you to the right station". The characters are wonderfully acted and behave far more like people you could relate to than your typical romantic film.
It's also beautifully shot and some of the most memorable scenes have no dialogue; Saajan cuts a very lonely figure as he stands smoking on his balcony in the moonlight or holding onto the handrail of an overcrowded train.
A word of advice: don't go to this film hungry. As Saajan unpacks his lunch each day he breathes in the aromas and savours every delicious bite.