The Lunch...err..The Lifebox

A week earlier, around 10 in the evening, my friend Ashishbhai called me and asked if I was interested in the 10:30 pm show of “The Lunchbox” at CityGold Cinema, Ashram Road. I was totally drained out after all day work followed by some workout in the late evening. I just came out of shower and was heading to serve my starving tummy some dinner the moment he called. I was about to refuse the offer but the next moment I realized that this movie was starred by legendary , Irrfan Khan.

And the next thing I could just say, “10 min, Ashishbhai. I’ll be downstairs. You can pick me up”. Yes, I left my dinner too.

We reached CityGold, purchased two tickets, took our seats and watched this 100 minute flick. While leaving the theatre, I heard people passing several remarks. “Irfan was good”, “New chick, Nimrat did an outstanding work”.......”Man, end was not good. They left the movie so open ended”.

This last comment didn’t actually make a lot of sense to me. Contrary to this, I felt that the writer/director actually conveyed what he wanted to. Some people speculated about the sequel of this movie but I opined that even if sequel wasn’t planned, this movie had already done its job. The movie left behind few very important messages which I think I want to share.

In our life, what are we exactly looking for? We want someone with whom we can share things, no matter, good or bad. To whom our things, our doings really matter. Be it a marriage or a relationship between a girlfriend or boyfriend, we try to find that one person, who at least is there to notice me, notice my things in a special manner. To that someone, whatever I do is not just an ordinary doing but something special or something noticeable. Also, it is equally important that this someone makes gestures to let me know that I and my things really matter to him/her as we are human and we are required to be communicated. Marriage or relationship is a kind of commitment in which each partner says, “Whatever you do, will not go unnoticed. I am there and I will notice whatever you do. I would never ignore you. You will never be left alone, whatsoever.”

Turns out, this kind of commitment is beyond all materialistic commitments/pleasures which can be offered to anybody by anyone.

In one scene, Irrfan Khan tells Nawazuddin Siddiqui in the answer of a question, “My wife has passed away ......but... I have a girlfriend.” While saying this, the body language of Irrfan revealed that how delighted he was with this fact that he had someone. Though Irfan had never met her, never seen her, they just exchanged few letters. But he knew, there is someone who is there to listen to him and understand him and that elevated the confidence in him.

I realized that this feeling of knowing that someone is there for you is actually mightier than that of the physical presence of the person with you.

Though there were several other instances such as dialogues of Nimrat’s mom at her father’s funeral and then some gestures by Nawazuddin Siddiqui etc. etc. which again conveyed lots of beautiful, thought provoking ideas but things I discussed caught my attention comparatively more.