Q: The Lunchbox is an international co-production. The Lunchbox, in that sense, is a very Indian, Indian film. They are not trying to be something else. I am inspired by them to the extent that they are extremely specific and honest to the details of being local. What I like about Iranians films is how the shots are simply devised. Are you influenced by them?Ī: I never try to shoot a film like an Iranian film. One thing that stands about The Lunchbox is how local it is.
Q: You mentioned in an earlier interview that you liked the "local" aspect of Iranian films. The audience can draw their own conclusions but I don't think it is a mistake. There are magic realist elements interspersed in the story. What I really owed to them I felt was to keep it between a mistake or a miracle. The dabbawalas have so much dignity - the way they carry themselves and the way do their jobs.
That's why we have been against doing promotions with them. They connect the two characters whose lives are changed as a result. The dabbawalas are an integral device in the fabric of this story. I just felt it was something sacred to them it was their communication with their deity. The film shows glimpses from their routine such as the singing in the train.Ī: I was asked in Toronto (The Lunchbox was screened at the Toronto International Film Festival) why didn't I subtitle the song. Q: You initially wanted to make a documentary on the dabbawalas. He too would take the bus and then take the Bandra local to Churchgate. Mr Fernandes' commute and job is similar to that of my grandfather. They were not necessarily widows or living all alone. I knew several older Christian gentlemen growing up. (Batra recently moved back to Mumbai to live with his wife, Claudia, and their daughter.) I lived there with my parents for 18 years before I moved to United States for further education. There is Ila's Bombay, Sheikh's Bombay and Saajan's Bombay and the story goes between all of these Bombays. What interests me about Bombay vis-vis this story is that there are many Bombays within Bombay. Is Mr Fernandes' milieu familiar to you?Ī: More than the character's religion, I was concerned with how he is stuck in a different era or time. Q: Irrfan plays Saajan Fernandes, an aloof Christian widower residing in Bandra, who exchanges letters in a dabba with a neglected housewife (played by Nimrat Kaur) in Malad East. Ritesh Batra, the film's director, in an interview, said he wanted to make a film that was universal as well as local. Ritesh Batra, Director of The LunchboxThe Lunchbox has been praised by audience as well as critics for its heart-warming story.