Archana Asthana
The world premiere musical adaptation of “The Lunchbox” based on the acclaimed film by Ritesh Batra remains relevant over a decade later as it explores the themes of loneliness, courage and unlikely human connections. The endearing, inspiring and emotional drama truly mesmerizes and engages all senses fully in the stunning stage production at Roda Theater by Berkeley Repertory Theater, which has now extended the run duration to July 12th by popular demand!
Songs reverberate on stage, replacing dialogue and measured silences; becoming the nuanced, compassionate and poignant voices which reveal human complexities surfacing in vulnerable moments. The stage anchors the three-story building in a Mumbai chawl (communal living quarters) where Ila (Kuhoo Verma), the housewife lives largely ignored by her husband, and is raising her daughter and conversing with the upstairs resident, Deshpande Aunty (Anisha Nagarajan). She makes lunch dutifully for her husband, following tips from aunty to make it tastier, packs it into a “dabba” (lunchbox) to be delivered at his workplace by the efficient system of human conveyor belts, the “dabbawallahs”. This seamless system of delivery has existed since the late 1800s and is manned by over 5,000 workers. Actors donning white caps and uniforms move the steel tiffin boxes on all manners of transport through the busy Mumbai streets and bookend this musical with a lively number.
When a rare mistake by the dabbawallahs (only one in six million boxes go to the wrong place) lands the lunch on the dour, soon to retire Saajan Fernandes’s desk, it turns to a miracle with written notes being exchanged between these two strangers forging and seeking an unlikely bond. Through well composed lyrics, co-written by Batra, and Daniel and Patrick Lazour, sung in powerful vocals, unsaid feelings are gradually revealed; dreams and desires fill the space; Ila and Saajan lean towards each other, discovering each other’s vulnerabilities and aspirations.
The creative team of the show excels in every aspect from nuanced direction by Tony award winner Rachel Chavkin, choreographer Reshma Gajjar breathes meaning into the songs and dance, and Mimi Liens’s deft set design seamlessly adheres the flow and transforms the spaces with rotating buildings, train compartments, offices and sounds of street hustle and bustle. Movement and stillness are used as props, sounds and silence as emotions and light and darkness as moods, moving the plot along with elegance and finesse. The superb cast of 13 emote longing, tenderness, loneliness and hope, scaffolded by soulful and mellow violin accompanied by dhol, mridangam and tabla performed live on stage, highlighting Nathan Koci’s brilliant music supervision.
Will their shared dream of Saajan uttering “what if I come to Bhutan with you?” come to fruition; or will he be the roadblock to his own happiness, “no one buys yesterday’s lottery”; or will they move towards “we forget things if we have no one to tell them to”. “Living within dreams is so real that it does not matter if it is real” makes us all dreamers and gives hope.
In a brief conversation, Manu Narayan (Saajan) shared that the “show preserves the specificity of culture without watering it down and garners universal appeal”, and indeed the appreciative audience testified to that.
