A lovely little movie from India. Of course it’s not American…. no one in our culture uses food as a trope for passion and intimacy or, indeed, would be comfortable making a movie centered on that mundane midday meal, lunch. The Lunchbox gets its beauty and effect from its everyday subject, used as a bridge between two souls, one, Ila, the ardent maker of that meal, the other, Saajan, its unintended recipient.
India’s intricate and fascinating lunch delivery system, in which housewives cook meals for their husbands, which are then ferried to them by deliverymen, provides the opportunity for the mixup at the center of the film, in which the meals cooked by Ila are accidentally delivered to a complete stranger. Over a period of days and weeks the two exchange notes via the delivery service. The topic of these exchanges, while seeming to center on the food, quickly acquires additional dimensions, and we sense that a romance may be brewing, even as Ila’s discontent with her husband increases and we see the full extent of the loneliness felt by Saajan, a widower.
The movies is ultimately inconclusive about the possibility of a connection between the two, as events conspire to bring them closer and then, in a twist worthy of O. Henry, drive them in different directions, as Saajan makes decisions based upon what he thinks he is allowed, rather than upon the choices with which he is presented.
Ultimately, it’s a film about intentionality as opposed to results (no fabricated American-movie happy ending here), and about learning when it’s best to override the head with the heart. It’s about missed appointments that speak volumes, and about messages that arrive by unconventional means. A truism repeated in the movie, “sometimes the wrong train will get you to the right destination” speaks to the futility of planning too carefully in life, and the wisdom of seizing opportunities when they arrive, no matter how unexpectedly.