NEW DELHI: The Lunchbox (Dabba), which made its debut at the Cannes Film Festival‘s Critics‘ Week section, has been acquired by Sony Pictures Classics for North America.

Directed by Ritesh Batra and starring Irrfan Khan, Nimrat Kaur and Nawazuddin Siddiqui, The Lunchbox claimed the audience award in Critics Week.

International sales are handled by Germany‘s The Match Factory GmbH, which also licensed the film to Happiness Distribution for France.

The film has already been sold in 20 territories across the globe. It was already pre-sold to five countries. Major international sales include Artificial Eye (UK) and Happiness (France).

The film has been sold to North America, France, UK, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Spain, Poland, Portugal, Greece, Turkey, Israel, Baltic, Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, Mexico, Central America, Brazil and Ex-Yugoslavia (Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia).

The film had been pre-sold to Italy, Switzerland, Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg.

The film was produced by India‘s Sikhya Entertainment and D?r Motion Pictures with the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC), Germany‘s Rohfilm GmbH, France‘s ASAP Films and the US‘s Cine Mosaic.

The story follows the connection between a widower nearing retirement and a frustrated housewife that is established when Mumbai‘s famously reliable system of lunchbox deliveries goes wrong.