The Lunch Box

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Illa (Nimrat Kaur) is a young Indian housewife who makes hot lunches for her husband which is sent through the intricate Dabbawala system to deliver it to her husband. In India, it is common for office workers to have hot meals from home or a restaurant to be delivered to them via a delivery service. Usually a man will come collect the meals from a residence or restaurant and then it may be sent on the train or bike depending on the location. Illa’s lunch is accidently sent to Saajan Fernandes (Irrfan Khan ) an accountant who is about to retire after thirty five years working at the same firm.  

The two start to send messages to each other in the lunch box and they learn about each other’s lives. Illa writes about how her husband takes her for granted and Saajan writes about the monotony of his life and his loneliness from being a widower for many years.The pair come to depend upon each other and fall in love but it’s complicated. Illa has a husband and a young daughter and Saajan feels he may be too old to start something new. They try to meet a few times but things get in the way.

It was a cute movie. One of my friends recommended this film to me so that’s why I watched it. I love movies set in India as I love Indian culture. I enjoyed watching the film but I wish the ending hadn’t been ambiguous. I had hoped that all the issues would be resolved in the end. I don’t know if they would have got their happily ever after because they were both lonely people who just happened to be there for each other. I think a hobby and friends could have easily fixed the hole each had and Illa needed to communicate more with her husband.