We had reported earlier that Ritesh Batra’s The Lunchbox was in the contention to win the prestigious Camera d’Or prize at the ongoing 66th Cannes Film Festival. The film however took home the Grand Rail d’Or award at the International Critics’ Week, a side competition at the 66th Cannes Film Festival.
This is one of the handful of films starring Nawazuddin Siddiqui that is doing the rounds at the prestigious film festival – the other being Bombay Talkies and Monsoon Shootout both garnering mixed response from the audience. Irrfan Khan plays the main lead in The Lunchbox and the whole story revolves around him and the other female protagonist played by Nimrat Kaur.
This award initiated by a group of rail workers film enthusiasts offer two awards in two categories in the Cannes Critics’ Week – for the Best Short and Best Feature Film.
Lunchbox is a story of one wrong lunchbox delivery by the ever efficient Mumbai dabbawallas who are the backbone of the home tiffin delivery system in Mumbai. That one wrong delivery brings a young housewife (Nimrat Kaur) in touch with an old man (Irrfan Khan) who’s on the brink of his dull lonely life. Through the notes shared through the lunchbox, they build their fantasy world revolving around love that threatens to destroy their real lives.
Writer Director Ritesh Batra’s screenplay of The Lunchbox had earlier won an honorable mention at the International Film Festival of Rotterdam in 2012. It was also a part of the Berlinale Talent Project Market.
The film has been co-produced by Sikhya Entertainment, DAR Films and NFDC along with co-producers from France and Germany.
