The Lunchbox was the highest-grossing foreign film in North America, Europe and Australia for 2014 grossing over US$25 Million.
He then directed the English-language film The Sense of an Ending (2017), an adaptation of Julian Barnes’ Booker Prize-winning novel.
Batra was part of the Sundance Screenwriters and Directors lab with his project "Story of Ram" in 2009.
In 2011 Batra returned to India to make a documentary on the lunchbox delivery system in Mumbai.
In 2014, Batra founded his own production company PoeticLicense Motion Pictures and is currently developing a slate of films.