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 café, 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.
