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Oscar winning actress Lupita Nyongo (of 12 Years A Slave fame) recently showered praise on Ritesh Batra's The Lunchbox on a microblog site.
'Just saw the movie The Lunchbox: the perfect heartwarming love story period, but specially on a cold and rainy day,' Lupita wrote.
The Lunchbox actor Irrfan Khan is thrilled with the praise.
"Lupita is a wonderful, marvelous actor," Irrfan said. "She has won hearts all over the world. Her reaction to our film is most precious. All strength to her.”
Ritesh Batra, who has been travelling to various parts of the world with the film, is also thrilled with Lupita’s comments.
“It is really very kind of her. She’s a fabulous actor. I am glad the film is still playing in the US," Batra says. The Lunchbox released on February 28 in the US.
“The reviews have been very positive. It feels good to see the film is reaching out to audiences, who normally don’t want Hindi films,” says Batra.
Batra tries to sound modest as he says, "We opened in Italy where the numbers of screens were doubled within a week. In Germany, it was screened in 100 screens. And in Switzerland, The Lunchbox was among the top 10 films of the country.”
"It’s been an amazing journey for the film," Batra continues. "The European and American audience has understood the film’s context. The French media asked me amazing questions about the dabbawala culture in Mumbai. The foreigners seem to have connected with the film’s emotional epicentre wholeheartedly. I never thought the film would go this far.”
Batra has started writing his next film but the travelling is slowing him down.
"I am not at any one place long enough to let the plot develop. Right now, all I have is two characters, a man and a woman and a love story set in Mumbai,” says Ritesh.
In the picture: Lupita Nyongo. Photograph: Jason Merritt/Getty Images