NEW DELHI: The internationally lauded and awarded The Lunchbox by Ritesh Batra has become the first Indian film since 1990 to be nominated at the BAFTA awards since Salaam Bombay.

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) nominated the film in the ‘Best film not in the English language category.

Producer Guneet Monga was ecstatic at this nomination. “We are so happy that our faith in Ritesh and The Lunchbox is paying off so beautifully. It’s a film we are very proud of and earning a Foreign Film nomination is yet another reassurance that great content will always go a long way. I would like to say a big thank you to the HFPA (Hollywood Foreign Press Association) and the BAFTA jury,” said Monga.

The award ceremony will be held on 8 February in London.

The Lunchbox is a 2013 Indian epistolary romantic film written and directed by Ritesh Batra, and produced by Guneet Monga, Anurag Kashyap, and Arun Rangachari. The film was jointly produced by various studios including DAR motion pictures, UTV Motion Pictures, Dharma Productions, Sikhya Entertainment, NFDC (India), ROH Films (Germany), ASAP Films (France), and the Cine Mosaic (United States).

It stars Irrfan Khan, Nimrat Kaur and Nawazuddin Siddiqui in lead roles. The film was screened at International Critics' Week at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival, and later won the Critics Week Viewers Choice Award also known as Grand Rail d'Or.

It was shown at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival. The film was released in India on 20 September 2013.