They say that the way to a man’s
heart is through his stomach. They say it right – I agree with them and Mr.
Sajan Fernandes too will agree with them. But Mr. Fernandes has nobody who will
want to reach his heart through his stomach. He eats alone; travels alone;
works alone and stays alone. He unintentionally glances out at his saamne wali khidki every night after
eating home delivered food while he smokes a cigarette from his balcony. That
family dines together every night with children running here and there; loud
discussions and noise all over. There is a small girl who notices Mr. Fernandes
and closes windows. Mr. Fernandes’ house is exactly opposite of them – yes literally
too.
Meri Ammi hamesha kaha karti thi ke kabhi kabhi galat train
bhi sahi jaga pohocha deti hai, says
Sheikh who has been newly recruited to replace Mr. Fernandes who Is about to
retire in a month. When Mr. Fernandes
gets a delicious dabba one fine day, he
goes and praises the hotel guy who prepares the dabba for him every day; but
that dabba is Ila’s – for her husband.
... and the conversations through
the dabba start. The movie is a fusion of two hungry souls; hungry for good
food to eat and people to talk their hearts out to.
We all want someone to talk to and share memories otherwise
we forget them, Mr. Fernandes writes in
one of the letters to Ila. Ila is with her husband and her daughter but her
house is as mute as Mr. Fernandes’.
The dabba plays an important role
in stuffing two people into his life – Ila and Sheikh. This is very stupid of
me but; in this scene where Mr. Fernandes opens his dabba and is reading the
letter – barely a line into it, Sheikh comes there and starts asking something –
I pause the movie. There I was in front Mr. Fernandes on that table where he had
just opened his dabba, so engrossed in that letter that Sheikh was just a third
person who had disturbed me as badly as he disturbed Mr. Fernandes.
Mr. Fernandes’ journey through the
film goes from being lonely to having happy conversations and happy relations
with people around him. As the movie ends, even that little girl in his samne wali khidki does not shut down
windows but waves out to him. The movie doesn’t concentrate on material factors
like grand sets, exotic location and colourful people everywhere. It
ponders over the layers of the most important part of the story - the
characters.
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