As such, it lacks the usual song and dance numbers you find in most Indian films and is only a little over an hour and a half (most Indian films are considerably longer-often twice as long or longer). While it was directed and written by an Indian, Ritesh Batra, and stars Indian actors (Irrfan Khan and Nimrat Kaur), it is also a French/German co-production. And, as far as realism goes, this Indian film is not typical of a Bollywood flick either. Plus, a 'Hollywoodized' ending would have been far less realistic. This might upset some viewers, but it shouldn't-it's still a very good movie. Now I am NOT complaining-but Hollywood films seem to have an implicit understanding that everything must be resolved perfectly before a movie can end. There is a lot of sadness and longing and the film leaves you with this, as it's not afraid to leave the audience slightly dissatisfied. Part of it, too, is that the film does NOT have a perfect happy ending and it doesn't follow a typical formula.

Part of it is, of course, because there is no comparable lunch system in the States. Dabba is the sort of film Hollywood could never make. All during this long exchange of letters, the woman CONTINUES sending lunches to this stranger and they forge an odd friendship! There's far more to the film than this-see it yourself and you'll see what I mean. Later, they become much more complicated, as by now the wife has realized that her husband has been cheating-and this total stranger becomes her confidante. At first, they are quite simple and formal. At first, the man doesn't realize he's eating another man's lunch-he just thinks the restaurant that delivers his lunch box has suddenly improved! However, once the wife realizes her mistake, she sends the next meal along with a note explaining the mix-up-and soon the pair begin exchanging letters.

Despite this being a logistical nightmare, the meals get delivered to the right person all the time with very, very few mistakes-carried by hand and on bicycles and scooters by mostly illiterate men! With the movie Dabba, a mistake amazingly happens and a wife's meal arrives for a total stranger instead of her husband.

Then, after lunch, they collect all the empty lunch pails and deliver them to the wives.

Their job is to arrive at the homes of Indian workers to get homemade lunches from the wives and transport them all over the city so that the men can have hot, home-cooked meals every day. In Mumbai (formerly 'Bombay'), India, there is a very complex network of 5000 Dabbawallahs.

The lunchbox 2013