A page from my life

​ When you realise that Irrfan Khan turned down Interstellar for The Lunchbox… It sounds like an unbelievable decision. Watching it again after all these years, I finally understood why. Saajan Fernandes is a middle-aged widower. The kind of ordinary man we’ve all seen around us. He gets annoyed when kids play cricket outside his house and refuses to return the ball. He’s spent over three decades in the same 9-to-5 job, carrying the same routine that countless Mumbaikars do…with the dependable dabbawala service as a part of everyday life. He’s cynical, withdrawn and content living inside his own little world. He even tries to avoid the responsibility of training his replacement. His monotonous life changes because of something that should never have happened: the dabbawalas make that one-in-a-million mistake and deliver someone else’s lunchbox to him. That lunchbox belongs to Ila, a homemaker trying to win back her husband’s affection through her cooking. It reminds me of what Master O...

Today I watched this series Taj Mahal 1989 and my biggest takeaway was First impressions are not always right. Somehow we’re conditioned to believe the very first version we form of someone. But if I look at my own life, some of the best people I know are the very ones I didn’t have a great first impression of. Set in 1989, the show follows four parallel stories, almost like Life In A Metro.  It’s a slow burn, but one that rewards patience. It feels incredibly real, beautiful and completely human. One thing I especially loved was how the women are written. I often feel that the women we meet in real life are far more interesting than the ones films and television usually give us. This show finally does them justice. The men too, are written with equal warmth and vulnerability. Life really does become more beautiful when adults learn to communicate and more importantly, communicate the right things at the right time. “When you begin to trust someone, it’s love.” This line!!! E...