Against the backdrop of Mumbai, India — a crowded, overpopulated city where people shuffle to work with minimal human interaction — two strangers with their own life dilemmas find solace after a chance encounter with each other.
Ila is a young housewife and mother who is struggling with a neglectful, workaholic husband who is more focused on his career than his home life. In order to get her husband’s attention, Ila prepares a savory, five-course meal to send to him at work. Apparently, Mumbai has a very intricate meal-delivery system that sends home-cooked meals to/from anywhere in the city (a fascinating concept that piqued the interest of this author, as there is no American equivalent). The system is supposed to be flawless, but if that was the case, there would be no premise for a movie.
Ila’s meal gets delivered to Sajaan (Irrfan Khan of “Slumdog Millionaire” fame), a busy accountant who is weeks away from retirement and is uncertain about his future. Sajaan seems delighted to receive Ila’s meal, as it is a welcome break from the humdrum life to which he's grown accustomed. After devouring the meal, Sajaan finds a note inside and writes back. This small gesture of appreciation and acknowledgment of error begins a correspondence between Sajaan and Ila. Their friendship seems to serve as a catalyst to their own self growth (quite reminiscent of the relationship between Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson in “Lost in Translation”).
First-time writer/director Ritesh Batra does an excellent job of incorporating humor into a film that juggles the coming-of-age of two characters. Like the meals that Ila prepares during the course of the film, the film is made with a lot of TLC and leaves the viewer wholly satisfied.
The Blu-ray/DVD combo is available Tuesday, July 1.
Film: 4 Yaps Extras: 3 Yaps