Ritesh Batra (born 12 June 1979) is an Indian filmmaker. Batra is widely known for his debut feature film The Lunchbox starring Irrfan Khan, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, and Nimrat Kaur, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 2013 and won Rail d’Or (Grand Golden Rail). Batra also won the Toronto Film Critics Association Award for Best First Feature Film in 2014. The Lunchbox has been called the highest grossing foreign film in America, Europe and Australia for the year of 2014 grossing over 25 Million USD/180 Crore INR. Batra was nominated for a BAFTA Award for The Lunchbox in the category Film Not in the English Language in 2015. He has directed the English-language film The Sense of an Ending, starring Jim Broadbent. The film is an adaptation of Julian Barnes’ Booker Prize-winning novel The Sense of an Ending.
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Biography from TMDB.
- June 12, 1979 (47)
- Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
- Director, writer and producer
- 4 on MovieCove · 11 credits in all
What are Ritesh Batra's films like?
Across a limited sample of 4 MovieCove titles with a thematic analysis, their films lean Bonds and Self.
Themes
What they feel like to watch
Ironic 0 · Wry 0 · Earnest 4
A split, not a type: Light 3 · Serious 0 · Dark 1
Grounded 4 · Stylized 0 · Heightened 0
Gentle 2 · Charged 2 · Intense 0
Steady 4 · Shifting 0 · Whiplash 0
Straight-faced 3 · Some laughs 1 · Funny 0
Slow burn 4 · Even-paced 0 · Relentless 0
Casual 2 · Engaged 2 · Full focus 0
Easy watch 0 · Affecting 3 · Heavy 1
Resolved 1 · Open-ended 3 · Ambiguous 0
Moods and endings
AI-generated from each title's plot synopsis and cast list, with extra plot summaries, reviews and Parents Guide notes for titles the model may not know, and the model's own knowledge of the ones it recognizes. Only analyzed titles count, so this covers part of the filmography; the feel axes count films only for now.
Where can I watch Ritesh Batra's films?
As of October 24, 2026, 3 of their 4 MovieCove titles stream on a subscription or free service.
Subscription and free streaming for Ritesh Batra's titles on MovieCove; rent and buy are not counted. Titles are listed by Midcredits score, highest first, at most 12 per service; a dashed chip is a producer credit or a minor one, such as a thanks. A service opens the browse page, which counts movies only, so its number can differ.
Filmography
11 credits, 4 with a MovieCove page.
Unaccustomed Earth (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2026)
Photograph(2019)
Midcredits score: 77th percentile of all films
Our Souls at Night(2017)
Midcredits score: 78th percentile of all films
The Sense of an Ending(2017)
Midcredits score: 56th percentile of all films
Masterchef (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2014)
The Lunchbox(2013)
Midcredits score: 98th percentile of all films
Café Regular, Cairo (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2011)
Gareeb Nawaz's Taxi (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2010)
The Morning Ritual (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2008)
Super Full (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)
Untitled Ritesh Batra Film (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)
Career shape
A full career of 11 titles, 8 of them dated from 2008 to 2019.
How do Ritesh Batra's films land?
Their typical MovieCove film has a Midcredits score in the 78th percentile, the median of all 4; across a limited sample of 4 films with reception data, the typical film sits in the 75th percentile for acclaim.
- 75th and up3
- 50th to 74th1
Shape of the crowd
None of their 4 titles divides audiences: 3 are Crowd Pleasers.
- Universally Loved1
- Crowd Pleaser3
Reviewers score the atmosphere 76/100 and the pacing 40/100 in their films, across 4 reviewed titles. The element that speaks to their work as a director.
Percentiles are each film's standing among all films on MovieCove; the typical film is the median, so one outlier cannot drag it. Percentiles and reviewer scores count the films IMDb credits them on, for now; the Midcredits score bands, the shape of the crowd and the two cards count their MovieCove titles, shows included (a show ranked among shows), appearances as themselves left out. A descriptor is the shape of a title's IMDb rating distribution against the catalog; "most divisive" needs a spread wider than half of all titles, and a card names only a principal credit: a craft role, and on a show a crew role or a run of episodes, never a courtesy credit or a one-off guest spot.
Who does Ritesh Batra work with?
People who share at least 2 of Ritesh Batra's MovieCove titles, grouped by what they did on them; John F. Lyons shares the most, 4.
Actors
- Denzil SmithShared titles: Photograph (2019), The Lunchbox (2013)See all 2 shared titles with Denzil Smith
- Nawazuddin SiddiquiShared titles: Photograph (2019), The Lunchbox (2013)See all 2 shared titles with Nawazuddin Siddiqui
Composers and editors
- John F. LyonsShared titles: Photograph (2019), Our Souls at Night (2017), The Sense of an Ending (2017), The Lunchbox (2013)See all 4 shared titles with John F. Lyons
- Max RichterShared titles: The Sense of an Ending (2017), The Lunchbox (2013)See all 2 shared titles with Max Richter
Producers
- Arun RangachariShared titles: Photograph (2019), The Lunchbox (2013)See all 2 shared titles with Arun Rangachari
- Smriti JainShared titles: Photograph (2019), The Lunchbox (2013)See all 2 shared titles with Smriti Jain
- Vivek RangachariShared titles: Photograph (2019), The Lunchbox (2013)See all 2 shared titles with Vivek Rangachari