11 April 2014
This takes place in “the era of email”, yet when a lunchbox is misdirected in Mumbai, only letters are exchanged between benumbed, middle-aged accountant Saajan (Irrfan Khan) and a neglected young wife, Ila (Nimrat Kaur).
At first, Ritesh Batra’s drama flip-flops between lucid observations and romcom contrivance. Midway through, however, it settles for a devastating brand of melancholy: a typical scene has Ila’s mum confessing that, while caring for her terminally ill husband, she became disgusted by his body. Saajan, meanwhile, thinks he can smell old age on his skin. Batra clearly adores his characters. We get a taste for them, too.
