This Thursday July 10 sees the Aussie cinema release of an Indian romantic drama, The Lunchbox, starring Irrfan Khan (the narrator in Ang Lee’s Life of Pi), Nimrat Kaur (Peddlers) and Nawazuddin Siddiqui (Gangs of Wasseypur). It is the debut feature from director Ritesh Batra, and it’s garnered some very positive attention internationally, including taking the Critics Week Viewers Choice Award at Cannes.
The film takes as its subject the dabbawala lunchbox delivery system in Mumbai, which transports home-cooked meals from people’s residences to their offices and rarely — purportedly once per several million deliveries — makes a mistake. One such mistake leads to the film’s central story, in which lonely widower Saajan (Irrfan Khan) receives a lunchbox by mistake, one cooked by Ila (Nimrat Kaur) for her husband.
The film opens nationwide this Thursday. For screening locations and more info, check out distributor Madman’s official site for the film at thelunchboxmovie.com.au.
Here’s the trailer: