Welcome back to another weekly Movie and TV Review!!

This week’s film is none other than The Lunchbox, starring a crazy roster of talent, with Irrfan Khan being one of many standout performances.

In The Lunchbox, the tiffin, or lunchbox courier system, is unmatched in its accuracy. It’s so reliable that it has attracted attention from the outside world. Intellectuals from places like Harvard have come to study it, and even they struggled to find flaws.

But to err is human.

Though not entirely their fault, Rajeev and Saajan Fernandes receive identical lunchboxes, so the delivery man can’t be blamed too harshly.

The premise of the film is that sometimes the wrong train gets you to the right station.

The error in Ila’s lunchtime missives leads to newfound courage, friendship, and self-discovery.

Set in Mumbai, Ila is a lonely housewife who hopes to rekindle the love lost in her marriage. With the help of her all-knowing auntie in the form of a disembodied voice, Mrs. Deshpande, she cooks up a last-ditch plan to win Rajeev back through his stomach.

Meanwhile, Saajan Fernandes, an early retiree and grouchy offender who spends his free time kicking helpless kittens and terrorizing neighborhood children, is tasked with training his replacement, Aslam Shaikh, in the claims department.

The Orphan Experience

Across nations, the orphan experience often feels like a life sentence to hardship.

Of course, there are exceptions, but without fail, many orphans who lack support are treated with contempt, forgotten, or abused.

And Shaikh is no different.

His life has been a constant cycle of adapt or die.

The everyman, Shaikh traveled between India and Dubai doing odd jobs to survive until he met his blushing bride, Mehrunnisa.

And once again, he is met with prejudice from her father for being an orphan, among other things.

What’s the deal?

Even in K-dramas, the same pattern appears.

The same is true in Tori and Lokita. Though Lokita isn’t technically an orphan, she may as well have been given the way the adults around her exploited her.

Thankfully, in Shaikh’s case, all is not lost.

He gets a happy ending.

In Fernandes, Shaikh finds a father figure, and watching Fernandes stand in as his guardian during the wedding was genuinely endearing.

Familiarity Breeds Contempt

The Lunchbox feels like a study of the phrase:

“Familiarity breeds contempt.”

At least, I think so.

On some level, you can’t definitively say who’s right and who’s wrong.

There’s his truth, her truth, and then there’s the truth.

Likewise, you can’t control what other people do, but I couldn’t help wondering whether what happened between Ila and Rajeev could have been avoided.

Let me be clear:

I’m not blaming Rajeev’s infidelity on Ila.

People are going to do whatever they want regardless.

But what would’ve happened if both of them had made up their minds to meet in the middle and work through their problems?

What if Ila had noticed the growing distance earlier?

The movie only shows us the tail end of a marriage before its presumed collapse.

What signs did both of them miss before Rajeev chose to bow out through infidelity?

Again, let it be said that I’m not defending Rajeev’s cheating in any way, nor am I placing the blame entirely on Ila before some fucking morality police comes for me.

Playing Devil’s Advocate

What I’m getting at is that, similar to women, men have emotional and physical needs that, if neglected, they’ll eventually seek to fulfill elsewhere.

And in the context of Ila and Rajeev’s marriage, Rajeev chose a path that Ila most definitely did not appreciate.

Infidelity.

I’ve been reading—or mostly listening to—books that explore the male perspective, and it’s been fascinating.

Shout out to Norah Vincent and her book Self-Made Man. May she rest in peace.

One topic that particularly caught my attention was the importance many men place on physical intimacy.

We don’t get to see much of Rajeev’s character beyond the fact that he’s a cheating scoundrel, so naturally the film focuses more on Ila.

I’m playing devil’s advocate here when I point out some of the traits I noticed.

Let it be said that Ila is a good woman and clearly still cares deeply for her husband.

Now let’s proceed.

She’s nurturing.

She’s a great cook.

She’s thoughtful.

But she’s also a bit of a goody-two-shoes.

Or maybe that’s just me projecting again.

Hear me out.

I wondered whether there were aspects of Rajeev that Ila disliked and gradually rejected over time.

Perhaps this happened repeatedly in the area of intimacy until eventually he stopped trying.

I suspected another woman was involved long before the reveal simply because of the emotional distance he put between them.

Not to mention the coded language during his late-night phone calls.

Call me paranoid, but my cheater-dar wasn’t completely broken.

The moment he rejected Ila’s suggestion that Y receive a sibling, I knew something was up.

Again, this is all speculation and projection onto fictional characters, so who really cares anyway?

Anypoops, I give The Lunchbox a fresh rose out of Mirai’s private garden.

Tell me what you think.

Drop a like and comment.