The Lunchbox

press release: India | 2013 | 35mm | 104 min. | Hindi with English subtitles

Director: Ritesh Batra; Cast: Irrfan Khan, Nimrat Kaur, Nawazuddin Siddiqui

In Mumbai, home to over 18 million people, more than 5,000 famously efficient dabbawallas—lunchbox couriers—navigate chaotic streets to deliver lunches, lovingly prepared by housewives, to working men across the city. Ila (Kaur) is a housewife living in a middle-class neighbourhood with a husband who ignores her. Saajan (Khan) is a beaten down widower about to retire from his number-crunching job. After Ila realizes that Saajan is receiving the meals meant for her husband, the two begin sending each other letters through the lunchbox. Outside the space of their daily lives, both Ila and Saajan feel free to express themselves in new ways, leading them both to question how they might find happiness. An involving variation on the Shop Around the Corner formula, The Lunchbox was an arthouse smash in the U.S. The cast is marvelous, especially the late, great Bollywood star Khan who left us too soon in 2020. “[The Lunchbox’s] style is more Hollywood than Bollywood, and Old Hollywood at that...The comedy is more wry than uproarious, the melodrama gently poignant rather than operatic, and the sentimentality just sweet enough to be satisfying rather than bothersome” (A.O. Scott, The New York Times).

After a nearly 16-month hiatus, big screen movies are making their comeback at the UW Cinematheque’s regular venue, 4070 Vilas Hall! Beginning Wednesday June 30, the Cinematheque will commence six weeks of free screenings beginning with Leo McCarey’s Make Way for Tomorrow, a classic tearjerker that was originally scheduled for April 2020. The summer lineup includes canonized comedies, action blockbusters, international thrillers, contemporary gems from Asia, the complete American works of French superstar Jean Gabin, a three-film salute to Charles Bronson in honor of his centennial, and more!

Summer programming will take place on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday evenings and all feature films will be screened from original or archival 35mm prints. Admission, as always, is free and open to the public. Seating will be limited and socially distanced according to current UW-Madison policies. When possible, additional showtimes have been added to accommodate more viewers. All Cinematheque screenings are free and open to the public.