A gentle film that takes you right into the hearts of its characters. The housewife who prepares the lunches has such a touching relationship with her "Auntie" upstairs, and we never see her! She is just a characterful voice. She also has a perfect little daughter who has an enormous doll as big as her. She sees her off to school every morning in a hugely crowded scooter-bus and sends off her lunch with a courier service --- to the wrong address! The infallible lunch-box service has developed a hitch, and her loving lunches go every day to a heartbroken widower accountant with whom she starts exchanging notelets. Eventually she tells him her husband has a mistress: she has smelt perfume in her husband's shirts. Naturally, she is downhearted and she starts planning to leave for Bhutan, where one Mumbai rupee is worth five Bhutanese. The accountant agrees to go with her, and they plan to meet. Sadly, that morning, he goes into his grandfather's bathroom and is struck with age, plus someone offers him a seat on the metro, which he tries unsuccessfully to deny. It all combines to cause him to stand her up, although he does secretly attend the restaurant to study her. He notes that she is young and lovely. Eventually they do seem to be preparing to leave together, although we are never sure. This is a fascinating masterpiece that will intrigue and entertain you without any doubt. Eight points, this time!
Review of The Lunchbox
