films - fiction
The Lunchbox
Ritesh Batra | India, Germany | 2013 | 104 min | Hindi spoken | English subtitlesVoorstelling 1: Friday 9 May 12:00 | KH 2 + 3
Voorstelling 2: Saturday 10 May 17:15 | KH 1
The lunchbox delivery system of Mumbai’s dabawallahs connects thousands of cooks and hungry workers each day; strangers who will never meet unless something goes wrong. In The Lunchbox, two lives cross unexpectedly in a most delightful way.
Since the death of his wife, lonely office worker Saajan has ordered his lunch from the mediocre restaurant around the corner. When one day a meal arrives that is full of flavour, he knows immediately that it is not for him. He enjoys the food and sends the tiffin, an Indian lunchbox, back to the chef with a note of thanks.
That chef is Ila, a young housewife who is trying to spice up her marriage by cooking her husband the most delicious meals. Her husband is oblivious to her efforts and does not even notice that he has received someone else’s lunch.
This mistake in the normally faultless dabawallah system is the start of an exchange of food and letters that brings together two lonely souls in the vast, anonymous city.
The Lunchbox is one of the best films of 2013 and a literal example of how food connects people. Home life, work life, a helpful aunt whom we hear but never see and the recognisable concerns of everyday life make this a compelling film that is over all too soon.
The dabawallah system has featured in the Food Film Festival before: in 2012 we screened the documentary The Lunchbox Miracle.
The Lunchbox has been selected for the FFF Feature-Length Food Film Competition 2014.
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