Nimrat Kaur and Irrfan Khan in “The Lunchbox" at the Figge Art Museum -- September 7
Thursday, September 7, 6:30 p.m.
Figge Art Museum, 225 West Second Street, Davenport IA
A 2013 Cannes Film Festival prize winner also nominated for Best Film Not in the English Language at the 2015 British Academy Film Awards, writer/director Ritesh Batra's Hindi-language drama The Lunchbox enjoys a September 7 screening at Davenport's Figge Art Museum, with The Telegraph lauding the movie for being "as much a moving and muted love story as it is an evocative portrayal of loneliness."
As The Lunchbox opens in Mumbai, Ila Singh (Nimrat Kaur) is a young wife seeking the attention of her husband Rajiv (Nakul Vaid). She tries to put romance back into her marriage by cooking delicious lunches for him. However, when she tries to send the lunchbox to his office, the dabbawala system which is to deliver his lunch has a mix-up, and the lunchbox accidentally reaches Saajan Fernandes (Indian film legend Irrfan Khan) instead. Saajan is a widower who is about to retire from his accountancy job, and after Ila realizes the mistake, she writes a letter to Saajan informing him of the mix-up and places it in the lunchbox the next day. An exchange of messages between Ila and Saajan via the lunches consequently ensues, igniting a friendship, and possible romance, between the two as they share memories and events from their lives.
Batra's film was screened in May of 2013 as a part of the International Critics' Week at the Cannes Film Festival, where it received a standing ovation and positive reviews. The Lunchbox won the Critics Week Viewers Choice Award also known as Grand Rail d'Or, and Variety hailed the work as "a notable debut from tyro helmer-scripter Ritesh Batra," adding that the movie boasted the "crossover appeal of Monsoon Wedding." Sony Pictures Classics consequently picked up all North American rights for distribution, while in India, The Lunchbox was released on more than 400 screens in September of 2013.
Critic Rajeev Masand of CNN-IBN gave a rating of 5/5 to the movie, stating, "The greatest love stories are the ones that make you root for the protagonists to come together, despite their destinies. This film illustrates how love transforms the unlikeliest of people." Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama called the release "a well-told old-fashioned romance" that "gracefully unknots the trials, tribulations, fears and hopes of everyday people sans the glamour that the city of Mumbai has become synonymous with." And Karan Anshuman of Mumbai Mirror also awarded The Lunchbox a perfect 5/5 score, deeming Batra's achievement "one of the best films to come out of India in a long time."
The Lunchbox will be shown in the Davenport venue's John Deer Auditorium on September 7, admission to the 6:30 p.m. screening is free, and more information is available by calling (563)326-7804 and visiting FiggeArtMuseum.org.
