The Lunchbox up against the best at BAFTA, why it is as good as any other contender

The Lunchbox is one of the finest films to have come out of India in recent times. No doubt that after winning hearts all over the world and a few awards too on the way; it finally got nominated for The BAFTA awards in the Best Film Not in the English Language category, which stands right up alongside The Academy and The Golden Globe Awards as one of the highest recognition for World Cinema. Till date, only six Indian movies have made it up there, Satyajit Ray's The Apu Trilogy, Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Devdas and most recently Rakesh Mehra’s Rang De Basanti. But we are yet to score a victory, no doubt with so much appreciation earned by The Lunchbox, we will once again be hopeful for an Indian movie to lift the trophy. But the competition is far from easy; it faces challenges from four very strong films that have been applauded at every screening. Let's have a look at where we stand in the race.

Ida: The Polish drama is set up during the 1960s and follows a young nun who has to go on and rediscover her never known family which consists of her aunt before returning back to take her vows. The visually spectacular movie is all of 80 minutes in length but fills you up completely. The relationship between two lost and found family members and revelation of truths and hidden desires make Ida a very strong content based movie which has its roots in the German invasion during the World War II. It has won several awards all over Europe and has been nominated for the Oscars as well in ‘Best Foreign Film’ and ‘Best Cinematography’ categories.

Two Days, One Night: The French-Italian Belgian drama deals with the contemporary work system in the industrial town of Liege. Marion Cotillard plays a young working woman dealing with depression and fighting to get her job back after getting fired through a poll that guaranteed rest of the 16 workers a bonus of 1000 Euros. Over a weekend she walks up to their doors trying to convince them to give up on the bonus and have her back through a second round of voting. The storytelling process is extremely real and relatable and so are the characters. The movie tells us, broke and middle class people reside all over the world. Cotillard’s brilliant performance earned her a nomination for the 'Best Actress' category at the Oscars. The film has won several awards and remains nominated in many others for the days to come.

Leviathan: The Russian drama film is the grandest and longest of all and gives us a picture of the country, let alone the rest of the world, many Russians themselves didn't know about. Far off from the developed territories, we see a family dealing with their personal problems and fighting the local mayor to keep their home safe. Leviathan is spectacular in terms of writing and performances. Director Andrey Zvyagintsev revealed the inspiration behind the story came from a US welder Marvin Heemeyer; fed up with zonal dispute who went to a bulldozing rampant in Granby, Colorado. The movie has won awards at almost every place it has been nominated in and is in running for the Oscars as well. Leviathan is probably going to be the strongest competition for The Lunchbox.

Trash: The dark horse of the race is this British made Brazilian feature adapted from Andy Mulligan’s 2010 novel of the same name. The movie deals with three Brazilian rag – picker kids who discover a wallet in the trash and then their lives go haywire. We have seen movies dealing with the loss of innocence and children dealing with the world of crime succeeding in the past. Slumdog Millionaire and Brazil’s own City of God are perfect examples. Besides Lunchbox, Trash is the only one in the running that isn't a part of the Oscar nominations but we can be rest assured, that won’t be the deciding factor.

The Lunchbox: If we look at the entries, one would conclude that all the nominated movies deal with realism and the middle class to lower middle class mentality in society and that is where Lunchbox excels. It is not as grand as Leviathan, it isn’t as raw as Trash, as beautiful as Ida or as compact as Two Days, One Night; but every movie has its own uniqueness. Where Lunchbox scores above the rest is in terms of its simplicity, its characters and above all its ability to bring a smile on the faces of the viewers instantly. The way we understood the cultures, the background of the other movies, it is certain that the rest of the world did the same with Lunchbox. This is one of the finest films to have come out of our country in recent times and we can surely be hopeful about our chances on 8th Feb.
-By Projwal Deb