Wednesday, September 25, 2013

The Lunch Box: Spoilers Alert.

While returning from the cinema hall today in the evening, my mind jostled in a haphazard stream of thoughts. One moment, I shared the experience with my friends on Whatsapp like how much I loved the movie, its story line, the characters and their unparalleled acting and in the next, I stepped into an oblivion state where I just wanted to contemplate, refusing to get distracted by the presence of a slender old man, murmuring something incessantly and begging for money at the traffic signal or by those little kids offering a stick of rose or sometimes, just their desperate needy look, or even by the light drizzle, highlighted through the head lights of numerous vehicles.
Amidst the noise of a monotonous rushing life, I sat there in an auto, stared into space, in the darkness hovering behind the street lights...in an oblivion state, wiped off irrelevant fragmented thoughts and brooded over the beautiful thing I watched. That which made me calm, relaxed even when I was stuck in the middle of Delhi traffic.

The moment I walked out of the movie hall, I knew I was going to write about it on Mirage. But what? Certainly not a review. I'm not really good at reviewing things. I have realized this lately. Moreover, I believe that this movie deserves something better than just a plain two-line review. It was moving, undoubtedly but what was that one thing, if you may ask, that made it so special for me?


The movie was real. Very real! The narration...how randomly beautiful it was. The part where the male lead writes about the reason why he spent the previous night watching his late wife's favorite TV show, right there, all I wanted was to keep listening to the remarkable narration. I felt I became was a part of the story. That small apartment with pale walls, the narrow passage where clothes hung on a string, the dining table where the mother secretly read those letters, the kitchen where she cooked delicacies...I lived there. That little girl with two pigtails, jumping carefully across the big puddle to avoid muck on her neat school dress and turning back to wave goodbye to her mother...I was her. I so was! Then, I became her mother...a simple housewife, essaying to woe her husband by making delicious lunch for him but ending up discovering the emotions she always longed for, in her friendship with an old man. The old man who devoured various dishes made by her. And it was all because of a wrongly delivered lunch box or perhaps, rightly received.

There is not a good, satisfying reason to convince that I was able to connect with the main characters but somewhere beneath the story line, realism of the movie struck me more than anything else and made the experience even more fantastic. It was warm and comforting. Yes! Comforting. There was a settling charm in the story which made me feel at ease, kept me intact and gripped till the end. Till that subtle happy end.

Honestly, I don't remember the last time I watched a movie which had such an impact on me...which made me write a long blog post. But I guess, this is the reason why I cherish watching The Lunch Box.

An excellent movie.
Indeed!
______

In other news, I am leaving for a three day holiday with my cousins to Lansdowne, Uttarakhand, this weekend. Apart from the regular holiday stuff, I shall be carrying a brand new Monopoly. Yes, that super awesome board game which consumed hundreds of hours of our adorable childhood.
:D

Pretty excited, I am. Yay!

10 comments:

  1. i'd never heard of The Lunch Box, so i looked it up & saw a 2 minute trailer & read the wiki article on it, which was enough to understand what it was about...says it opened at Cannes to standing ovation, so it must be a powerful film...

    but that's not what prompts this comment, vinati...

    i, too, spent days playing monopoly as a child (& no one wants to know how long ago that was), and was slightly surprised that you could speak of it as if your readers all knew of it...the question that came to mind immediately was is your board the same one i knew, with American street names such as New York and Pennsylvania Avenue? or did the game makers create a different version for each country where the game was released?

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    1. Monopoly is a very popular and definitely, one of the best games of all times. But yes, ours is slightly different than yours. We usually have the UK version (the one which I bought) or sometimes an Indian version too, by the name of 'Business'.

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  2. Nice post..I really wish to watch this movie..its a far cry from all the non nonsensical movies that are being released these days.

    happy journey!

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  3. I have a draft prepared about the movie too. Brilliant wasn't it? :)

    Happy journey. And monopoly? I still have my 25 year old board, it still smells of milk and cookies :D

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    1. Absolutely!

      I, on the other hand, never owned this awesome board game. But I did get to play it everyday at one of my friends' place. =)

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  4. I am going to watch this movie now.
    Have a safe and happy vacation. Oh and monopoly. <3

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    1. :)

      Thanks love. I did have a safe and super happy vacation. :D

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  5. A lovely movie indeed and an equally good review, Vinati:) Do'nt forget to post about the experience of Lansdowne the beautiful cantonment hill station!

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    1. Thanks a lot for your kind words.

      Yes sir! =)

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