In one of the best performances you are likely to encounter, Irrfan, playing Saajan Fernandes, makes you see that middle-aged man. Not just see, but feel. That lunch box becomes a symbol of hope. Of a renewed interest in the present. And of a future, waiting to be realized.
Ritesh Batra’s research on the legendary Mumbai dabbawalas who deliver millions of lunchboxes everyday through the city with unerring accuracy, led to his first feature. ’The Lunchbox’ is about a dabba that fetches up at the wrong table and the tasty fall-out of that little sin. I don’t know if those famed dabbawalas have ever made such a mistake but the result of Batra’s mixed-up ’dabbas’ is lovely, with a lingering delectable after-taste.