WillSushyMedia This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

Helloturia I have absolutely never seen anything like this movie before. You have to see this movie.

Cassandra Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

Phillipa Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

ComedyFan2010 When a neglected housewife figures out that her lunchbox is not being delivered to her husband she sends the man eating it a note which starts a communication through which they connect and even feel love.The movie may seem to slow for some. But this is actually what adds to it's charm. While it seems like a routine where they read notes from each other, each note adds more to their connection. We see them opening more to each other and starting to feel more hope and happiness in their lives.It doesn't have a happy ending. Or maybe it does to some point, just not a typical happy ending which we know from mainstream movies. The main characters never meet. When then time comes for it Saajan Fernandez feels too old for the woman who wrote to him (this actually doesn't seem correct as the actors are not that far apart in age, but the reality is not what he was feeling). And when she tries to come to his work to meet him he has already left. Yet there is still some happiness in it since she leaves her husband and goes to the place where she expects to be happy. And he remains in the neighborhood and seems to have found a new outlook for life which is shown in him connecting better to the children there. Who knows, maybe one day a wrong train will take the two again to a right station and they meet. And if not we know they influenced each other lives in a very positive way.Great acting. And there are many scenes that show it to us. How for example when finding out about a woman jumping from a high building with her daughter Saajan is worried it is Ila and checks right away on his lunchbox. Shaikh is also a great addition to the movie and we see through his relationship with Saajan how things are changing.A nice movie that is a pleasure to watch and to think after.

Movie Critic A fun look at quotidian life in India. The writers carry it though--I was afraid after the plot is revealed in the first 15 minutes that the remaining hour would be tiresome. I mean the whole plot is a romantic comedy that fortunately becomes serious. The weak part of the plot are when the Fernandes covers for his incompetent new assistant Shaeik--it rang very false. Also Ila's mother didn't work either...but the rest was good very good. RECOMMEND

keerti_anand Can confusion ever lead to love? Most of us would not believe it, but the movie lunch box advocates exactly the same. When Lonely Housewife Ira who in the hope of winning over her ignorant husband prepares the finest of tiffins for him, destiny has other ideas as the lunchbox keeps getting delivered to the widower Saajan(Irfan Khan). The movie is an absolute entertainer. Saajan falls in love with a woman he has not even met, just by communicating with her by passing letter in the lunchbox which itself plays a key role in uniting these two. The movie is a sublime combination of supreme acting, excellent direction and phenomenal background score. Actor Nawazzudin Siddiqui also plays an integral part in the film and entertains the audience with his gimmicks. The depiction of the dabbawallahs of Bombay is also very accurate and vivid. Overall, the movie teaches the message that love need not depend on looks, language, ethnicity, all that is needed for love is love itself.

markwood272 Saw this DVD 7/26/15. Rather than repeat a synopsis, some random thoughts after a first viewing (and there will be more): 1. The setup is a little like "Pillow Talk" (1959). The movie starts out with the makings of a "cute meet." But it becomes clear early on that Ila is not Doris Day, and Fernandes is not going to be anything like Rock Hudson.2. There is considerable suspense: Will Fernandes ever smile? And will Ila meet him? 3. Suspense grows as we await the thawing of Fernandes' heart. But anticipation of a meeting between dabba correspondents gradually gives way to something deeper, as "Lunchbox" comes into its own not as love story or romantic comedy, but as a parable of adult life, which only begins once a person has lived long enough and through enough to ask, "Is this all there is?" Bhutan beckons. It seems to be all these two people have left. Bhutan, with its measure of Gross Domestic Happiness, borders Lenny's "fat of the land" in "Of Mice and Men" (e.g.,1939), or Candide's El Dorado. There have been "lonely crowd" movies before, but Mumbai's populace is quite a crowd, and Ila and Fernandes such a lonely pair. 4. The cinematic apparatus (shot duration and selection, cutting, lighting) works effectively but does not intrude. I only minded the occasional single-note piano cue signaling moments of character introspection. Unnecessary, but I guess that's show business. 5. I saw Irrfan Khan in "Life of Pi" (2012). I could see he was a superior actor but found that the character scripted for him did not let him show what he could do and be on screen. Fernandes, at once someone unforgettable, someone we all have known somewhere sometime, and also someone we fear to become, is a demonstration of his skill. This is my first film with Nimrat Kaur in the cast. Her performance reminded me of Madhabi Mukherjee's title character in "Charulata" (1964) or the same actress as Arati in "Mahanagar" (1963). She makes a perfect lunchbox correspondent for Khan's Fernandes. Nawazuddin Siddiqui as Shaikh works well with Khan. He sold more than just Shaikh. He gave reality to Fernandes through the relationship between the two characters, demonstrating that acting is interacting. 6. Aside from "Pillow Talk", the movie brought to mind movies such as "Nelly & Monsieur Arnaud" (1995), "The Crowd" (1928), and "Chungking Express" (1994) as well as obvious intersections marked by Satyajit Ray's "Mahanagar", "Charulata", and "Nayak, the Hero" (1966). Also to be found on the same page is "Chachaji, My Poor Relation: A Memoir by Ved Mehta"(1978). Many others.7. In a world of on demand movie viewing, whether online, DVD, cable, or whatever, every viewer is a motion picture academy of one. I keep my own list of best pictures. "Dabba" is on it.