“Covert Communications: Food in Transition in Ritesh Batra’s The Lunchbox.”

Rahman, M ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4791-0103 (2018) “Covert Communications: Food in Transition in Ritesh Batra’s The Lunchbox.”. Journal of Postcolonial Writing, 54 (4). pp. 484-497. ISSN 1744-9855

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Abstract

Ritesh Batra’s 2013 film The Lunchbox explores issues of belonging, tradition and progress in contemporary India. By evoking, re-working and subsequently re-deploying the traditional diasporic symbol of Indian cuisine, The Lunchbox self-reflexively addresses and tests the boundaries of diasporic narratives and explores issues around globalisation and transnationality. The film ultimately remains ambivalent about late modernity’s progressive project in India, instead advocating for creative and adaptive solutions in response to the alienation and loss of home experienced by characters in the film.