Film Screening:

The Lunchbox
(Ritesh Batra, 2013, 104 min, India, in Hindi w/ English subtitles, Color, Blu-Ray)

-- Introduced by Prof. Sumathi Ramaswamy, Dept. of History; discussion to follow

Middle class housewife Ila is trying once again to add some spice to her marriage, this time through her cooking. She desperately hopes that this new recipe will finally arouse some kind of reaction from her neglectful husband. She prepares a special lunchbox to be delivered to him at work, but, unbeknownst to her, it is mistakenly delivered to another office worker, Saajan, a lonely man on the verge of retirement. Curious about the lack of reaction from her husband, Ila puts a little note in the following day's lunchbox, in the hopes of getting to the bottom of the mystery. This begins a series of lunchbox notes between Saajan and Ila, and the mere comfort of communicating with a stranger anonymously soon evolves into an unexpected friendship. Gradually, their notes become little confessions about their loneliness, memories, regrets, fears, and even small joys. They each discover a new sense of self and find an anchor to hold on to in the big city of Mumbai that so often crushes hopes and dreams. Still strangers physically, Ila and Saajan become lost in a virtual relationship that could jeopardize both their realities.

Cost: Free and open to the public.

Sponsors: The Program in the Arts of the Moving Image (AMI), the Asian/Pacific Studies Institute (APSI), the Council for European Studies (CES), the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies (CLACS), the Duke University Center for International Studies (DUCIS), the Duke Islamic Studies Center (DISC), the Duke University Middle East Studies Center (DUMESC), and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation "Partnership in a Global Age".