The romantic comedy as we knew it may be dead and gone, but if you know where to look, there are movies out there with both romance and humor in good measure, even if they don’t fit the box of the traditional “rom-com.” Films like Enough Said and The Lunchbox do nothing to stake a claim as anything special, but they are perfectly pleasant and aimed directly at an adult audience. And there’s a place for work like that. I probably won’t remember The Lunchbox for long, but it is a great date movie (I speak from experience – I took a date to it. We had a good time).
Irrfan Khan plays Saajan, a Mumbai office worker numbly staring down retirement in the wake of his wife’s death. Nimrat Kaur plays Ila, a housewife hoping to win back her drifting husband through her expert cooking skills. A screwup in the city’s usually quite efficient dabbawalla system causes the lunches Ila prepares to be delivered to Saajan instead of her husband. Even when he realizes the mistake, he continues to accept it, gladly devouring the delicious meals. When she realizes the mistake, rather than correct it, Ila begins sending notes to whoever it is who appreciates her work more than her husband. And once Saajan begins sending notes back, an unusual romance blossoms.
Khan is perhaps one of the best actors currently working when it comes to conveying a tremendous range of emotions with just his eyes and the subtlest of gestures. He always speaks in a measured, deliberate manner, as though every thought is filtered through a several-second delay of careful consideration. It works both for pathos, like when he watches tapes of an old show his late wife adored, and deadpan comedy, mainly in his interactions with a young trainee at work. Likewise, Kaur is assured in the smallest moments, though she’s given broader notes to play. But she also has to act against a character who is only heard and never seen (an old woman living in the apartment above Ila’s, who gives her wooing advice), and pulls it off well.
As befits a story about love worming its way towards the heart beginning with the stomach*, the culinary photography in this film is spectacular. And this isn’t a trifling detail that I’m fixating on just because I’m a great appreciate of food. The movie can tell us that Ila is a great cook all it wants, but the close up shots of steaming rice, toasty naan, and simmering curry are how we know it’s true. Film is primarily visual and auditory, but it’s always refreshing to see the form used to stimulate the other senses.
There’s no scene in The Lunchbox that isn’t going exactly where you think it is. The movie is treading well-worn ideas about aging, distance both physical and emotional, and love that cannot be fulfilled. It doesn’t approach these themes in a new way, either. But there’s value in playing the familiar with talent. The movie has a lovely, gentle atmosphere. It makes for a congenial if ephemeral experience.
*I apologize for this least-romantic metaphor ever.
