It’s always weird starting these posts because it’s always the end of the month, and I always find myself saying, “Woah! What happened to [insert month here]?!”. So this month will be different, instead, I’ve started by saying how I always do that instead of actually saying it. See the difference there? Subtle.

So onto The Lunchbox review! Have you seen it? What did you think? I have to say there’s likely to be spoilers in this post so caution before reading if you haven’t seen it yet. You have been warned.

Characters

I loved the character of Auntie who lived upstairs. I loved how you never see her, she’s just ever present and acts as a way for Ila to voice her feelings, well at least, selectively. I found her to be a touch of comic relief in the film.

Speaking of comic relief, I also loved Shaikh’s character and the way he helped to soften Saajan throughout. It was a really sweet moment when he asked him to attend his wedding, especially the photo taking scene!

Saajan telling the children not to play football outside his house near the beginning made me think instantly of Ebenezer Scrooge and this stuck with me throughout. I enjoyed watching his “transformation” in the film.

One thing I found interesting was that there were a lot of scenes in The Lunchbox where characters were alone. Of course, for some of these moments, the letters were being read by the other person, however I found it quite intimate having so much time alone with Saajan and Ila and really liked this. Thinking about it, all the main characters were well-developed and great assets to the film.

Language

Oh my life! I was losing my mind over the code-switching in this film! (Code-switching is when people change languages in the same sentence, bit of speech, or conversation) I’ve never been to India, and although I knew English was widely spoken, I didn’t expect so much swapping between Hindi and English. From what I observed in The Lunchbox, it seems that speaking English to someone is almost a sign of hierarchy? For example, the children spoke to Saajan in English, his boss introduces Shaikh to him in English, and, we can presume, Saajan writes his letters in English. And, of course, I also found it really interesting getting my first real listen to Hindi!

Plot

I loved the plot, however, the scenes with Ila’s mother lost me slightly as they seemed duller than the rest of the film. Maybe I missed something, but I didn’t really find them necessary.

The thing that really got me about the plot of The Lunchbox though was the ending! Eek! What happens?! Does Saajan get there in time? Does Ila leave for Bhutan? Was she planning to take her daughter? Do they go to Bhutan together? Is there some love there or just friendship? So many questions! However, as frustrating as it was, I loved the ending at the same time because it really leaves you to decide how you want things to turn out. Besides, do films always need a solid ending?

The next film…

Next month’s film for World Cinema Club is Ida. This is a Polish film and was the first Polish film to win the Foreign Language Film Oscar earlier this year. Not only that but the film also won the BAFTA for Best Film Not in the English Language. So it’s got to be worth a viewing, right? I look forward to discussing it with you at the end of April. In the meantime, here’s the trailer to get you intrigued…

Let’s talk

Now then, discussion time! What did you think of The Lunchbox? Did you enjoy the moments with just one character on screen? What did you think of the code-switching? And most importantly, what did you think of the ending?!