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The Lunchbox Brouhaha...


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{/googleAds} I went to see the movie day before yesterday and came out of the theatre feeling dissatisfied and cheated. I found the basic premise of the movie very faulty and illogical. A wife working hard at serving delicious food to get her husband's attention doesn't even bat an eyelid when the dabba goes to a wrong person and  very conveniently continues with the farce.

Aristotle, in his theory of catharsis, very clearly states that tragedy must arouse the emotions of pity and fear and lead to their purgation. This is called catharsis. He speaks of 'tragic pleasure', capable of providing pleasure that is not only tragic but also the pleasure obtained from all kinds of artistic ornaments like dialogues. I feel all art has to be cathartic in order to touch the core of ones heart and make a connect with the audience.

The movie at no point touched my heart. Cinematically speaking there were no heart touching moments. We have seen this kind of Mumbai, inhabited by the middle class, traveling in the local train, umpteen times. I feel no sense of despair for the housewife, i know i should, but the movie does nothing to rouse that emotion in me.

The housewife looks educated and intelligent and it's pretty bemusing that she instead of fending for herself opts for a very childish and simplistic way to escape the everyday drudgery of her life. She plans to move to Bhutan. Uurrgghh! My question to her would be and do what? My advice to her would be 'go get a job, girl!'

The upstairs aunty after a few scenes gets to my nerves and her constant interference in the wife's life gets pretty annoying. She acts like one of those know-it-all friends you don't know whether to keep or chuck out of your life because of her constant advice and interference.

Lillette Dubey sticks out as a sore thumb and no matter how hard she tries, she can, in my opinion, never look like a middle class suffering wife.

Irfan Khan, Nimrat Kaur and Nawazuddin Siddique saved the day for the producers and the story line that lacked cohesiveness and character building. They were on top of their game.

For me the only thing that works is the food, which reminded me of a Dhara ad that used to come a long time ago, the food shown looks absolutely yummy and mouth watering.

The movie lacked the WOW factor, it would have been a better read. I wish it were a book, it surely would have won a Booker Prize. Oscars? No chance!

Before i finish….take a bow Nawazuddin Siddique, you deserve it!