The Lunchbox

I LOVED this movie. It is such a sweet story, but not a simplistic one. There are complex relationships at work, not just the one between the couple on the cover. The characters are not two-dimensional East Indian stereotypes. They are real people with an intellect, real thoughts, real feelings, and real quirks. All of the relationships appear to be simple but actually have a lot of nuance and complexity. Everything runs much deeper than just what is said on the screen. Nawazuddin Siddiquiis is an outstanding seasoned actor. I HIGHLY recommend "Photograph" which is an Amazon Original film. That one also appears to be simple and straightforward, but it is not. Words, looks, expressions all run much deeper than they first appear. Both of these are first-rate films! Because they are not American films. no cursing and no sex. Refreshing!

A long time fan of Irrfan, I was drawn to this film immediately. I won't repeat the plot as others have done here, it's been said enough. Not only is it one of the finest films to come out of India, I would put this up against any US release as well. Irrfan and Nimrat are stellar in their performances, with honorable mention going to Nawazuddin as well. I also have a new favorite director in Ritesh Batra, who also wrote this brilliant screenplay. The pace of this film and his execution of the scenes is incredibly refreshing. There is pure joy to be found within this beautiful story that makes this film something I will never tire of. Yes, I have seen it an embarrassing number of times, and I plan to watch it many, many more. It's a feel good film without any sappiness, and you literally fall in love with and care about Saajan and Ila to the point you are cheering for them by the end of the film. Irrfan and Nimrat make their characters that believable and genuine with their effortless performances.Ritesh tosses in quite a few clues along the way that make the ending crystal clear rather than ambiguous as some people have mentioned. You just have to look for them. A few are obvious, others are more subtle, but they are there throughout the film.This is a wonderful, beautiful story and an exceptional piece of film making. I would give it ten or more stars if I could.

I'm someone who loves to watch mysteries and thrillers, especially the hard-hitting ones (whether it's Hollywood or Bollywood).When it comes to Bollywood movies, as much as I like some of the mainstream ones, I've always had respect for the "tier 2" actors such as Irfan Khan and Mr. Nawaz himself. So when I saw that these two will be sharing the screen, there was no way I was not going to watch despite this being a romcom, which mind you is my least favorite genre.But something about this quaint movie made me smile the entire time I was watching it. It felt real and very heartwarming. The acting by all 3 leads was just amazing. When the end credits first rolled, I took maybe 20 seconds or so just to collect myself and actually think about what I just watched and how it felt. I still have no words. I just...moved on.Oh, and the delivery system - yes, it's true!Grab your partner, a few snacks and enjoy this little gem!

This movie was very sweet I could not relate to some of the cultural structures shown here but that’s what’s great about watching foreign films as I always feel like I learned some thing about what life might be like elsewhere. This movie has romantic undertones and each person has their own motivations and issues they’re struggling with I thought it was really charming a little bit slow paced and sometimes awkward but overall I hung on to see what was going to happen and felt like I cared about the characters.

I enjoyed this film and will watch it again some day. Movie preview gives a good idea of what it's about. Easy to follow. Colourful. Made me hungry watching it. Not too sappy, not to heavy. Recommended entertainment.

The reviewer here is a Texas native. The Lunchbox (2012) is among the all-time very best movies to come out of India, along with Gandhi (actually a British/Indian co-production, 1982), Salaam Bombay! (social content, 1988), and Chhoti Si Baat (Bollywood comedy, 1975). At the theater, the movie primarily was in Hindi with subtitles, but there was a smaller amount of English, with south Asian clipped accents, absent subtitles. One can observe this occasional audio English from a YouTube of the movie trailer. On first impression, after picking and buying, on Amazon, the cheaper Indian import DVD in preference to the more expensive American DVD that comes coupled with Blu-Ray I didn't need, I thought maybe I'd made a mistake. That is, looking online again at the import DVD specs, I thought I had a DVD that dubbed Hindi on top of the smattering of English and then subtitled the Hindi in English, rather than just preserving the small amount of English from the original theatrical release. Not so...once I checked by actually sampling the import DVD. From all appearances, it's the same as what was at U.S. theaters. The potential advantages of the Hindi/English subtitled import then become that the Amazon offerings tend to be cheaper than the U.S. DVD/Blu-ray combo, and instead of the Blu-ray a buyer gets a second DVD disc with film commentary by the director and the leading-role actor and actress.