Sunday, September 22, 2013

Review of 'The Lunch Box'


After watching initial few scenes of the movie, we know that the movie is far from ‘filmy’.  It doesn’t have any artificial looking sets, all scenes of the movie seem to be shot in natural locations…like a busy cafĂ©, boring looking office, messy kitchen etc. The story is about lives of the characters and the connection between their lives. The story feels like a set of pages torn from a book called ‘Life’. The set of pages themselves make a story albeit without a proper origin or ending. All characters are married adults and ‘well-settled’. We won’t know how they got into the work they are into or the relationships they are into, because, as mentioned above, the story starts with their current lives and their past or future is not important…or rather is not part of the story.
The movie felt more like a book, with attention to minor details.  The characters’ expressions and their silence convey as much as their dialogues do,  if not more. The movie has lot of scenes that look repetitive and bit boring to people who like typical noisy bollywood masala. The sets are mostly indoors and the same indoors. But repetition of scenes and sets is the heart of the movie which has its characters’ routine as an inevitable part. We understand about the characters by knowing their routine, their attitude towards their routine and how they change while their routine doesn’t…or perhaps it does.
The performances of all the three main characters are brilliant. The story is told more by the actors’ performances than by the events happening in their lives. There are many humorous moments in the movie, and the timing of dialogues and the manner in which they are delivered don’t fail to evoke laughter. 
The Lunch Box is a movie that will be liked by audience who have a certain kind of taste…a taste which made them like movies such as Lutera, Shanghai etc…most likely the so called ‘multiplex audience’. Nevertheless, the other kind of crowd might find it a good movie too, especially because of the comedy and performances. And those who have a penchant for slow paced, silent movies that focus more on the characters’ feelings and how they evolve than the actual story are going to love this movie. And all theatre lovers too will love this movie.
I personally feel Bollywood has evolved, and evolved for good…and I came out of the theatre quite satisfied with my decision to watch it.