Passes the Bechdel test

The Lunchbox

Name: The Lunchbox
Released: 2013

2013. Directed by Ritesh Batra, written by Ritesh Batra and Vasan Bala.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

Yes 1. At least two women
4 women characters. 3 of them speak.
Yes 2. Who talk to each other
In 2 scenes out of 167.
Yes 3. About something besides a man
In those scenes, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.

Second opinion

Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 3 out of 3.

The film

The film, set in Mumbai, revolves around a mistaken delivery by the Dabbawalas (lunchbox service) of Mumbai, which leads to a relationship between Saajan, a lonely widower close to retirement, and Ila, an unhappy homemaker, as they start exchanging notes through the daily lunchbox.

Released: 20 Sep 2013
Genres: Drama, Romance
Rated: PG
IMDb: 7.8 / 10
Metascore: 76 / 100
Awards: Nominated for 1 BAFTA Award. 30 wins & 46 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

Women
Men
Not in the cast list
Bigger name, more lines

Saajan 139 lines, man
Ila 119 lines, woman
Shaikh 106 lines, man
Mrs. Deshpande 39 lines, woman
Mr. Shroff 18 lines, man
Ila'S Mother 13 lines, woman
Rajeev 13 lines
Dabbawallah 10 lines
Anne 6 lines, man
Auto Rickshaw Driver 6 lines

Full cast, 39 people

Irrfan Khan as Saajan Fernandes
Nimrat Kaur as Ila
Nawazuddin Siddiqui as Shaikh
Lillete Dubey as Ila's Mother
Nasir Khan as Ila's Father
Bharati Achrekar as Mrs. Khrishnan
Nakul Vaid as Rajeev
Yashvi Punneet Nagar as Yashvi
Denzil Smith as Mr. Shroff
Shruti Bapna as Meherunissa
Lokesh Rai as Dukes Owner
Vidhya Dhar as Old Man in Train
Sadashiv Kondaji Pokarkar as Dabbawallah at Ila's House
Aarti Rathod as Saajan's Neighbor
Krishna Bai as Toothless Woman
Raj Rishi More as Ila's Brother
Santosh Kumar Chaurasiya as Autorickshaw Driver
Swapnil Shirirao as Dukes Waiter
Avijit Khanwilkar as Young Man in Train
Aakash Sinha as Autorickshaw 2
Xavier Hodges as Very Old Couple
Rosemary Hodges as Very Old Couple
Hubart Vossoaker as Neighbor's Family
Rosemary Vossoaker as Neighbor's Family
Flory Vossoaker as Neighbor's family
Sebastian Vossoaker as Neighbor's Family
Quitira Vossoaker as Neighbor's Family
Baaburao Sankpal as Dabbawallah at Saajan's Office
Chandrakantha Rajani as Saajan's Office Staff
Kancha Karki as Saajan's Office Staff
Ravindra Dubey as Saajan's Office Staff
Narendra Arora as Saajan's Office Staff
Ashwin Desai as Saajan's Office Staff
Mahesh Mahadev Salavkar as Office Peon
Krishna Mandal as Office Peon
Calvin Desilva as Cricket Kid
Craig Narona as Cricket Kid
Kyeron Kandoria as Cricket Kid
Shubh Jadav as Cricket Kid

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 4 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 9% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 167

Hover, tap or tab to a bar to see those scenes: where they happen and who's talking.

Show the numbers

Scenes	Women's lines	Men's lines
1 to 4	15	0
5 to 8	0	0
9 to 12	0	17
13 to 16	0	0
17 to 20	4	0
21 to 24	0	0
25 to 28	6	0
29 to 32	0	14
33 to 36	8	0
37 to 40	11	14
41 to 44	17	7
45 to 48	0	3
49 to 52	0	2
53 to 56	7	0
57 to 60	5	0
61 to 64	0	3
65 to 68	0	4
69 to 72	9	0
73 to 76	1	1
77 to 80	5	1
81 to 84	6	19
85 to 88	1	30
89 to 92	4	14
93 to 96	0	6
97 to 100	7	10
101 to 104	12	0
105 to 108	0	10
109 to 112	8	3
113 to 116	1	0
117 to 120	1	14
121 to 124	8	0
125 to 128	6	32
129 to 132	6	31
133 to 136	1	10
137 to 140	0	6
141 to 144	0	10
145 to 148	2	10
149 to 152	15	0
153 to 156	4	13
157 to 160	7	5
161 to 164	4	0
165 to 167	1	0

The evidence

Straight from the script
Counted from the script and the credits

Tap an exhibit to open it.

Exhibit A: the passing scenes

The scene our parser counted as passing, word for word.

ILA: Look both ways before you cross the street. ILA: People drive like crazy these days...And be very careful on the way back too...ok? ILA: Don't walk under a tree...branches fall in the monsoons. YASHVI: But its not raining now...

ILA: It must have been so hard to go up to the roof with her daughter... YASHVI: Mummy, where are we going?

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 39 are women's.

182 lines from women, 289 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

4 women and 4 men in the cast. 3 women and 3 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit D: who gets heard

A woman speaks the first line. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 35 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 40% of the words (2,038), men 60% (3,019). Women have 39% of the lines, so their lines run longer than men's.

Exhibit E: the test the other way

Two named men talk to each other about something besides a woman. It passes the reverse test.

Conversations between two named characters

Two women

Two men

Exhibit F: behind the camera

3 of the 11 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 26% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Ritesh Batra (man)
Written by: Ritesh Batra (man)
Produced by: Anurag Kashyap (man), Guneet Monga Kapoor (woman), Arun Rangachari (man)
Shot by: Michael Simmonds (man)
Edited by: John F. Lyons (man)
Music by: Max Richter (man)
Production design by: Shruti Gupte (gender not listed)
Costumes by: Niharika Bhasin (woman)
Cast by: Seher Aly Latif (woman)