The Lunchbox completes 9 years; Nimrat Kaur calls the film "close to heart"

The Lunchbox, the epistolary-romantic film starring Nimrat Kaur and late actor Irrfan Khan, completed nine years of release on Tuesday.

Reminiscing the time working on the film, Nimrat, who played Illa Singh, in a statement, wrote, "The Lunchbox will forever be a film that is close to my heart. It was my first film in a leading role and there were hoardings all over. There was a well-known brand that did one of their signature takes on the film and that was extremely special for me."

Written and directed by Ritesh Batra, the film explores a platonic relationship between a young housewife (Nimrat) and a lonely widower (Irrfan). Due to a mistake by Mumbai's delivery service Dabbawala, the duo begin to share an unlikely correspondence. The actor also recalled that Irrfan and Ritesh Batra participated in the special screening of the film that was organized in Delhi.

In her social media post, Nimrat wrote, "The biggest gifts of life are the ones that age better than anything you could imagine. I thank all of you and the universe above for this precious day 9 years ago, when life as I knew it changed forever. Here's to the perennial love and continued magic #TheLunchbox spins and the immortality of the talent and heart that made it all happen. Thank you."

Karan Johar, the film's co-producer, commented on Nimrat's post, "Such a special film and you were so magical in it."