'Dabba', or it's English title 'The Lunchbox', is the debut feature film of Ritesh Batra. Following the lives of Saajan (Irrfan Khan, Life of Pi), an office worker on the brink of retirement, and Ila (Nimrat Kaur, Luv Shuv Tey Chicken Khurana), a housewife trying to rekindle the romance between her passionless husband. Upon making him a special lunch, her meal is sent to Saajan instead, where an unlikely friendship blossoms.
Batra has done a wonderful job at capturing the lifestyle of modern Indian culture - claustrophobic trains, busy streets and rustic buildings are among the many backdrops this movie has to offer. Colourful without being overwhelming, DOP Michael Simmons has crafted a very beautiful film. Batra has also pulled out some exceptional, low-key performances from Khan and Kaur. The movie is paced pretty well, though the 100 minutes did feel like a bit over 2 hours.
Now, the main issue with the film - this movie is billed as a romance, the tag-line is "Can you fall in love with someone you have never met?" and at no stage did I feel the romance between the two leads were believable at all. The two exchanging notes through titular lunchbox, and are talking about everyday, mundane activities for most of the film, so when the romantic aspect was introduced, I was very surprised. The actual premise of the film is not original at all, (which isn't necessarily a bad thing), however, in this case I felt that the way the plot was introduced and progressed felt really contrived. The film is very much a character study, but Khan definitely gets way more focus than need be in the film, leaving Kaur's character of the lonely lover rather one-note and two-dimensional. The child actors are also rather wooden, but they aren't on screen for a large amount of time, so the movie isn't too grating to watch when they're around. The ending, while bittersweet, is rather unsatisfying, leading the audience to think that Batra himself wasn't sure how to end the picture.
Overall, it's still an enjoyable, well-made flick, but a rather overrated one at that. 6/10.
Batra has done a wonderful job at capturing the lifestyle of modern Indian culture - claustrophobic trains, busy streets and rustic buildings are among the many backdrops this movie has to offer. Colourful without being overwhelming, DOP Michael Simmons has crafted a very beautiful film. Batra has also pulled out some exceptional, low-key performances from Khan and Kaur. The movie is paced pretty well, though the 100 minutes did feel like a bit over 2 hours.
Now, the main issue with the film - this movie is billed as a romance, the tag-line is "Can you fall in love with someone you have never met?" and at no stage did I feel the romance between the two leads were believable at all. The two exchanging notes through titular lunchbox, and are talking about everyday, mundane activities for most of the film, so when the romantic aspect was introduced, I was very surprised. The actual premise of the film is not original at all, (which isn't necessarily a bad thing), however, in this case I felt that the way the plot was introduced and progressed felt really contrived. The film is very much a character study, but Khan definitely gets way more focus than need be in the film, leaving Kaur's character of the lonely lover rather one-note and two-dimensional. The child actors are also rather wooden, but they aren't on screen for a large amount of time, so the movie isn't too grating to watch when they're around. The ending, while bittersweet, is rather unsatisfying, leading the audience to think that Batra himself wasn't sure how to end the picture.
Overall, it's still an enjoyable, well-made flick, but a rather overrated one at that. 6/10.