The protagonist of “The Lunchbox” digs becoming the romantic lead for a change in this superb drama
Irrfan Khan doesn’t look at all as on screen. Films like “Life of Pi” and “The Namesake,” let alone the show “In Treatment” (in which he played a withered retiree), give the impression that Khan is deep into middle age. In person, however, Khan is spry and dapper, at least 10 years younger than 46.
His latest critically-acclaimed film, “The Lunchbox,” does nothing to modify that perception, but it matters very little: Khan is Saajan, a crabby widower looking forward to retirement, but with little idea what to do next. His final days as a paper-pusher turn out to be the most action-packed of his career.
First, Saajan gets an eager trainee that gets on his nerves. About the same time, he starts receiving a singularly delicious meal from his lunchbox service. So good, it has to be a mistake.
As it happens, it is. The cook is Ila, an attractive and mistreated housewife trying to win back her aloof husband through his stomach. Ila and Saajan start exchanging notes through the lunchbox, first about food and soon, about life. Unwittingly, the pair enters each other’s lives leading to the possibility of love and a number of life-changing decisions.
“The Lunchbox” is reminiscent of the Hollywood classic “An Affair to Remember” and the Tom Hanks-Meg Ryan rom-coms so popular in the 90’s, with an added layer regarding the many social issues a growing nation like India has to deal with.
Even though the movie has been a hit with critics and audiences in every film festival it has been shown (including Vancouver), the Film Federation of India chose “The Good Road” to represent the country as its official foreign language entry for the Academy Awards.
Darpan sat down with Irrfan Khan after the North American premiere of the film during the Toronto International Film Festival.
Q: Do you often get people mentioning how much younger you look in person?
A: That is my tragedy. I keep getting parts that are not my age. When I started doing theatre at 14, my first role was the one of an old man.
Q: My favourite performance of yours is in the HBO drama “In Treatment.” That show really aged you.
A: I thoroughly enjoyed it, but it was very challenging. For me “In Treatment” was neither a film nor a play because of the format of it. It consisted of two people just sitting there, the therapist and the patient. The shooting wasn’t traditional, not just delivering a few lines and cut. It was like theatre: you just kept going on. That’s how you could shoot an episode in two days. It had been a long time since I had to learn soliloquies and had the added pressure of not forgetting my lines. Also, working with Gabriel Byrne was a very humbling experience.
Q: It was probably the purest form of television.
A: Exactly, no music, no camera blocking, no gimmicks.
Q: I had the chance to watch both of your films in the Toronto International Film Festival, “The Lunchbox” and “Qissa.” There is an economy in your work: without big changes, you can create two radically different characters.
A: I try to be contained. One of my first movies was “The Warrior.” The director (Asif Kapadia) used to say “less is more.” Before then I was doing television. In TV, you have to do a lot of talking, explain what’s going through your head. I never liked that. Kapadia told me “don’t distract the audience from the situation. Don’t do unnecessary things. Just pull them in.”
Q: Which aspect of your character in “The Lunchbox” do you relate to the most?
A: The sensuality. My laugh is met with silence.
Q: Oh, you are serious.
A: I couldn’t recognize the sensuality in the beginning. It was the emotion of the script that attracted me in the first place. But as the shooting of the film approached, I found it hidden in the story. I felt I had to address that sensuality. We had to find a girl that triggered a vibration in me whenever I saw her face. That’s why the casting of Nimrat Kaur was vital.
Q: You were seldom together on set.
A: True, but I had a picture of her in my mind. We never met before the movie. I just saw her photo and I said to Ritesh (Batra, the director), “it’s her.” The chemistry was important because I wanted the audience to feel Ila and Saajan should get together, and later, be capable of filling the blanks.
“The Lunchbox” opens in wide release in Canada next February.
