Opinion ‘The Lunchbox’: No Oscar stopover

Gyan Correa’s debut feature,Best Gujarati Film at this year’s National Awards,is now headed to a committee responsible for the Oscars shortlist. The arid beauty of Kutch is captured magnificently,and the motley characters who crisscross the highway are all in search of something,halting at stations that may be part real,part metaphor. A young couple,travelling in an SUV,frantically searches for a lost young son; a truck driver and his foul-mouthed cleaner look for a way out of trouble,so does a little runaway girl. The result is patchy: some of The Good Road is most effective when it is the least underscored,reminding you of Buddhadeb Dasgupta’s dream-drowsing style,while some of it comes off as inertly pretty and self-consciously arty.

How The Good Road will fare at the Oscars shortlist party is anybody’s guess. Selection committees work in mysterious ways. Just like the Film Federation of India (FFI),which chose The Good Road from 22 entries. It trumped the film that was considered most likely to squeeze into the last leg — The Lunchbox. The declaration has caused heartburn and heartbreak among the makers and supporters of The Lunchbox,which is understandable. That The Lunchbox,full of that crucial universal feelgood factor,was one of the best Indian contenders was clear,given that it has had an enthusiastic reception at several international film festivals,including at Cannes and Toronto. It has found admirers among critics who write in influential trade magazines,and it has just released in India with great word-of-mouth,audience-driven publicity.

To find out if ‘The Good Road’ has made the cut,one might have to wait till early next year. Meanwhile,here’s a question: is a film judged best of the rest at the national level necessarily the right choice for the world’s most visible,high-profile awards,handed out by Americans? The elements that make a film award-worthy in national arenas are most often radically different from the elements that work for it in international arenas. If a film is already making a buzz with faces that are internationally known (Irrfan,with his outings in The Namesake and Life Of Pi,has a global profile,and The Lunchbox’s international distributor,Sony Pictures Classics,has massive clout),it can draw attention more easily than a film that will have to start revving itself up now.

I watched Pakistan’s first Oscar hopeful earlier this week. Zinda Bhaag is an interesting slice of current life in Lahore,fronted by three young men whose biggest ambition is to get that elusive UK visa. It features our own Naseeruddin Shah in a lead role and is buoyed up by rousing music. But I don’t see glaringly obvious Oscar legs. If nothing else,it is a way to get people talking about cinema from Pakistan. An Indian entry,however,carries huge expectations.

All this hand-wringing deflects attention from the fact that The Lunchbox’s intrinsic merits — it is a well-written,superbly acted film — should take it to places not too many Indian films have reached. Look at the number of producers in the opening credits,and you will see that it has stakeholders from several countries (Germany,France,US),as well as well-known names from India,including the NFDC (which has also produced,rich irony there,The Good Road),Anurag Kashyap and Karan Johar. The Lunchbox is a truly international production,and with that sort of traction,it is safe to say that its journey has just begun.

The film can still be sent to the Oscars as a direct entry by its producers. It may have a chance at the Golden Globes and other prestigious international awards. It may win. Or not. But there is no doubt that it will open new markets for Indian cinema.

How do you say “paneer kofta” in French?

shubhra.gupta@expressindia.com