If you're fan of an uncommon love stories, then we guess this is the perfect film for you. Ritesh Batra‘s The Lunchbox, one of the titles that will premiere at this year's Cannes Film Festival (Critics Week section), is the story of the life we dream of versus the life we live in. Is it possible to turn out fantasies into reality? Why not!
Written and directed by Ritesh Batra, the movie will take us to Mumbai, a city of miracles! Right there starts this original love story, which revolves around a young housewife and an old man in the dusk of his life, who build a fantasy world together through notes in the lunchbox.
Or, if you prefer the full synopsis:
“Middle class housewife Ila is trying once again to add some spice to her marriage, this time through her cooking. She desperately hopes that this new recipe will finally arouse some kind of reaction from her neglectful husband. Unknowing to her is that the special lunchbox she prepared has been mistakenly delivered to miserable office worker Saajan, a lonely man on the verge of retirement. Curious about the lack of reaction from her husband, Ila puts a little note in the following day's lunchbox, in the hopes of getting to the bottom of the mystery.
This begins a series of lunchbox notes between Saajan and Ila, and the mere comfort of communicating with a stranger anonymously soon evolves into an unexpected friendship. Gradually, their notes become little confessions about their loneliness, memories, regrets, fears, and even small joys. They each discover a new sense of self and find an anchor to hold on to in the big city of Mumbai that so often crushes hopes and dreams. But still strangers physically, Ila and Saajan become lost in a virtual relationship that could jeopardize both their realities.”
It's safe to say – the characters of The Lunchbox exist on the line between the Mumbai of reality and the Mumbai of fantasy.
And those characters are played by Irrfan Khan who stars as Saajan, Nimrat Kaur who portrays Ila and Nawazuddin Siddiqui who stars as Shaikh.
At the end, little reminder – Ritesh Batra's movie is in the Competition line up of the 52 edition of the Cannes Critics Week.
