The Case of New Indian Cinematography in the Film The Lunchbox - Movie Review Example

The Case of New Indian Cinematography in the Film The Lunchbox The Lunchbox directed by Ritesh Batra and released in 2013 tells a romantic story of how a simple delivery mistake can change lives of two people completely. The plot of the film is simple; yet, its simplicity makes this film interesting for diverse audiences. Such topics as marriage, family life, loneliness and friendship have universal meaning for all people; it is the reason why this film is so easy to watch even though it contains many elements of traditional Indian culture. The film tells a story about a housewife Ila who is unhappy in her marriage. She tries to advance her cooking skills and find new recipes to make her husband pay attention to her. Every day she sends a lunchbox to him and hopes that he will come home and say something to her. Unfortunately, he prefers to spend his time at work or with his phone and it seems that he ignores Ila totally. One day Saajan receives the lunch cooked for Ilas husband. He is so impressed by the taste of food that he decides to visit the cafe where he orders lunches to express his gratitude. Ila is also impressed when she receives an empty lunchbox back. When her husband comes home, she understands that he has not tried what she cooked for him. Next time she adds a note to the lunch where she greets the stranger and initiates their pen-friendship («The Lunchbox»). Ila shares her memories, wishes and feelings with Saajan who is willing to listen to these little confessions of the young married woman. In his turn, Saajan who works as an office clerk and cannot get through the death of his wife, also shares everything he hides from other people in his soul. Connection between two main characters becomes even stronger when Sheikh helps Ila to cope with cheating of her husband and illness of her father. Ila motivates Sheikh to start a new life; she cares about this stranger with no regard to his social position, age or appearance. Overall, Ila and Sheikh decide to meet but Saajan does not come to the restaurant and Ila leaves it in despair. Sheikh writes a letter to her and explains that he is too old for such a beautiful and young lady as Ila. Discouraged by her family calamities and the death of her father, Ila decides to leave her husband, sell all her jewelry and move to Bhutan. She comes to the office where Saajan is supposed to work but finds out that he has retired and left to live in Nashik. Being far away from Ila, Saajan understands that he want to be with her. The movie ends when Saajan comes back from Nashik with a hope to find Ila («The Lunchbox»). There is a parallel story about the friendship between Saajan and his trainee Shaikh. Saajan ignores Shaikh but they manage to break the ice and become very open to each other. Shaikh treats Saajan as his father; he is an orphan and his origin often becomes an obstacle in his life. Saajan becomes very kind to Shaikh and shares his food and knowledge with this young man. As a result, Saajan is invited to Shaikhs homes, gets acquainted with his future wife and becomes an honorable guest in their marriage ceremony («The Lunchbox»). The lead roles are performed by Irrfan Khan (Saajan), Nimrat Kaur (Ila) and Nawazuddin Siddiqui (Shaikh) («The Lunchbox»). All three actors manage to make their characters real and simple. Nimrat Kaur palys her role very persuasively as one can feel real pain of being unnoticed and irrelevant in marriage. The sad widower and office clerk Saajan becomes an interesting personality due to the hard work of Irrfan Khan. Finally, Nawazuddin Siddiqui makes his character very optimistic and bright. He becomes a person who explains to Saajan that his life is not over and he has to live to his full. The quality of the film is really high. Editing and production make the film dynamic and real. For inastance, each time Saajan receives his lunch it is viewed form the side and then all dishes are showed from Saajans view. According to Young, «professionally lensed by Michael Simmonds, edited by John Lyons, and graced with just-right music by Max Richter, the film poses no pacing or technical problems for Western audiences». At the same time, the film remains unique because of its Indian charm. Settings are used to presents each character in the film even better; Ilas character rarely leaves kitchen while Saajan is either at his office desk or in the canteen where he eats his lunch. Costumes give even greater understanding of Indian culture; for instance, Ila wears traditional female clothes while Saajan and Saajan are always dressed in office-style shirts and pants («The Lunchbox»). It is possible to observe how people work, live, commute and relax in India. Some scenes are staged in the train as Saajan travels by train every day in order to get to his office. Crowded trains and streets give a sense of community to people who watch the film. Apartment of each character clearly reflects his or her social status and role. What is more important, there are no luxury palaces and upper-class people in the film. It is aimed at reflecting the life of ordinary middle class people. Cultural connotations in the film are very strong. First of all, one should pay attention to gender roles in traditional Indian society. As a wife, Ila lives in full isolations and her auntie and daughter are the only persons except of her husband who talk to her. Ila does not work and her day is dedicated to running the household; activities like cooking, cleaning and watching take away all her time. Saajans life is totally different; he works in the office and does not care much about cooking and cleaning because these activities are considered to be female («The Lunchbox»). The number of women in public places is really small. Indian world is run by men while women stay at homes and look after children. Social class is another theme addressed in the film. Being an orphan, Shaikh is not accepted by parents of his future wife and she has to run away from her family to settle down with her beloved man. Indian cuisine and lunchbox delivery service create perfectly back the story of Ila and Saajan. Different spices and recipes are revealed in the film. Cooking techniques and nice flavors are rendered in every shot alongside with happiness and sadness people experience in their daily lives. It is believed that lunchbox delivery service never makes mistakes and this film; it is obvious that Indian people are proud of this service as one man in the film mentions that even people from Harvard came to study lunchbox delivery in India («The Lunchbox»). Batra takes an advantage of this belief and creates a romantic story in typical Indian context. The Lunchbox is positively accessed by world critics. The review published in The Hollywood Reporter recommends this romantic comedy and describes it as a light and positive film about real people and real life (Feinberg). According to The Guardian, the film has a great success in India and it is positively perceived in the West because « The Lunchbox is perfectly handled and beautifully acted; a quiet storm of banked emotions» (Brooks). According to Burr, the film portrays Mumbai in its diversity showing how diverse people and different religions coexist in one place. Success of the film in Cannes and positive feedback of world critics only supports the argument that The Lunchbox is a film for everyone. It is pleasant, light and full of bittersweet moments and daily routines. In summary, The Lunchbox is a pleasant film to watch and a good story to remember. It is a universal story about friendship and love decorated by some specific features of Indian culture. It smells like hot and spicy curry or chutney. It shows real life in its happy and sad moments, in its good and bad sides. This is not the best film one might watch in their life, but it is charming in its simplicity and predictability. I would highly recommend this film to watch for all people who like romantic comedies, films about relationships, Indian culture and cuisine. Works Cited The Lunchbox. Dir. Ritesh Batra. Perf. Irrfan Khan, Nimrat Kaur, Nawazuddin Siddiqui. Sikhya Entertainment, DAR Motion Pictures etc. India, USA, France, Germany. 2013. Brooks, Xan. «The Lunchbox review - a quiet storm of banked emotions». The Guardian. April 13,2014. Web. November 25, 2014. < http://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/apr/13/lunchbox-bollywood-review-banked-emotions > Burr, Ty. «The Lunchbox is Indian food for the soul». The Boston Globe. March 20,2014. Web. November 26, 2014. < http://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/movies/2014/03/20/movie-review-the-lunchbox-indian-food-for-soul/HMlrLHfQnvcanvYG7gyeIK/story.html > Feinberg, Scott. «Telluride: Indian Oscar Hopeful The Lunchbox Delivers Tasty Surprise». The Hollywood Reporter. September 1, 2013. Web. November 25, 2014. < http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/race/telluride-indian-oscar-hopeful-lunchbox-619066 > Young, Deborah. «The Lunchbox: Cannes Review». The Hollywood Reporter. May 24, 2013. Web. November 26, 2014. < http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/lunchbox-cannes-review-558265 > Read More