This Hindi-language drama is, at times, not an easy watch. But despite the heavy themes, The Lunchbox offers many meaningful takeaways.

| Mar 11, 2025

... While it doesn't bring anything new to the genre, it enticingly describes the flavor of life. [Full review in Spanish]

| Original Score: 7/10 | Jun 27, 2023

A fantastic fusion of the culinary and epistolary, The Lunchbox is a reminder to us that love assumes many forms, and can be expressed in many ways.

| Jun 5, 2023

The Lunchbox is seemingly simple yet as complex as all human beings are. It’s sad yet throws up humour when you are least expecting it. It’s not larger than life, it’s just as large as life always is. This film is truly sensational.

| Original Score: 4.5/5 | Jan 15, 2023

A tale of love, loss and longing – simply beautiful.

| Sep 19, 2022

“The Lunch Box” encourages us to love and to allow ourselves to be loved. To not be swallowed up by the emptiness of our circumstances, but to open ourselves up to the possibilities still in front of us.

| Original Score: 4.5/5 | Aug 23, 2022

Could have used a little more spice.

| Original Score: B | Sep 27, 2021

Ritesh Batra's debut feature reinvents the charms of old-fashioned romantic cinema for adults.

| Jun 10, 2020

A bittersweet story of moving on, of memory and nostalgia, and of familiar songs, smells and sensations that ground us, and remind us of who we once were.

| Dec 19, 2019

It is a fairly progressive idea for a film about romance, one where kindness can serve as a catalyst for self-discovery rather than impel us towards the idea that togetherness is the only option.

| Original Score: 3.2/5 | Nov 22, 2019

It's a terrific metaphor for Mumbai. After all, the city like its inhabitants, is never satiated.

| Sep 24, 2019

A gentle, understated romantic drama that finds a delicious level of anxiety in the wait for a final answer.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Jul 5, 2019

The Lunchbox has a wonderful sense of place and real life going on - the city, the trains, the tedious offices, the suburban flat. It's full of humor and humanity.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jun 7, 2019

Subtle is also the best way to describe Batra's treatment of the characters' emotions in the film, and this is ferried onscreen by the astonishing performances of the lead actors.

| Apr 29, 2019

Those hoping for a Hollywood-style resolution will be disappointed, but by keeping the ultimate feel-good moment just out of our reach, Batra makes The Lunchbox a more resonant, alluring piece of romantic storytelling.

| Original Score: 8.5/10 | Apr 3, 2019

The Lunchbox is the very assured debut of writer/director Ritesh Batra, who has written a story that is deceptively simple, yet truly profound.

| Mar 5, 2019

Delivers a poignancy that has its edge taken off with a largely understated humour, and a smart edit that plays with sound to laugh-out-loud effect.

| Feb 28, 2019

This may sound like unpromising sitcom material, but The Lunchbox digs deeper...

| Sep 10, 2018

Highly-satisfying...family secrets make excellent fodder for movies.

| Sep 10, 2018

The Lunchbox is a simmering multi-layered tiffin box of emotions set in modern day Mumbai that should be watched and feasted upon.

| Aug 22, 2018