The Lunch Box (2014) — India

           After thirty-five years as an accountant in a dusty claims department, and the death of his wife, Saajan (played by Irrfan Khan of Slumdog Millionaire and Life of Pi) doesn't do much at night except watch television and smoke on his balcony. Then one day he gets a surprise note in his daily lunch box delivery from a woman named Ila. It's obvious that the note was intended for Ila's husband and that the lunch was sent to the wrong person. But a tender pen pal relationship emerges between Saajan and Ila. "We forget things if we have no one to tell them to," he writes to Ila. Maybe they should meet? Even escape to Bhutan? The first time director Ritesh Batra locates this humorous love story in the crowded chaos of Mumbai, the better to focus on the alienation of ordinary people like Saajan and Ila and their hunger for human love. This film debuted at the Cannes and Toronto film festivals.