The Namesake (2006)

Director:

Mira Nair

Writers (WGA):

Sooni Taraporevala (screenplay)
Jhumpa Lahiri (novel)

Release Date:

9 March 2007 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

Two Worlds. One Journey.

Plot:

American-born Gogol, the son of Indian immigrants, wants to fit in among his fellow New Yorkers, despite his family's unwillingness to let go of their traditional ways.

Plot Keywords:

Flashback Sequence | Josh Grisetti | Indian American | Ganges | Interracial Relationship

Awards:

3 nominations

Cast

Irfan Khan	...	Ashoke (as Irrfan Khan)
Jagannath Guha	...	Ghosh
Ruma Guha Thakurta	...	Ashoke's Mother
Tabu	...	Ashima
Sandip Deb	...	Music Teacher
Sukanya	...	Rini
Tanushree Shankar	...	Ashima's Mother
Sabyasachi Chakravarthy	...	Ashima's Father (as Sabyasachi Chakraborty)
Tamal Sengupta	...	Ashoke's Father (as Tamal Roy Choudhury)
Dhruv Mookerji	...	Rana
Supriya Choudhury	...	Ashima's Grandmother (as Supriya Devi)
Stuart Rudin	...	Homeless Man
Heather MacRae	...	Nurse Patty
Sumitra	...	Calcutta House Staff
Kanti	...	Calcutta House Staff

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for sexuality/nudity, a scene of drug use, some disturbing images and brief language.

Runtime:

122 min

Country:

India | USA

Language:

Hindi | English | Bengali | French

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | SDDS | DTS

Certification:

Brazil:12 | Argentina:13 | Portugal:M/12 | South Korea:15 | Australia:M | New Zealand:M | Netherlands:12 | Singapore:NC-16 | Philippines:PG-13 (MTRCB) | Switzerland:10 (canton of Vaud) | USA:PG-13 | Germany:6 | Finland:K-11 | Ireland:12A | Switzerland:10 (canton of Geneva)

Filming Locations:

Calcutta, West Bengal, India

Company:

Fox Searchlight Pictures

Trivia:

Mira Nair initially wanted Rani Mukherjee to play the role of Ashima after she had seen her in Mani Ratnam's Yuva. Rani Mukherjee couldn't sign the film due to date problems. After that, Mira Nair wanted Konkona Sen Sharma to play the role. She couldn't commit due to her mother Aparna Sen's film 15 Park Avenue. After which the director signed Tabu for the role.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: During a scene set just after the family has returned from spending the summer in India, the very distinctive bright yellow blooms of forsythias can be seen in their yard. Forsythias do not bloom in the autumn.

Quotes:

Ashima A. Ganguli: ...Besides, what kind of a girl is called Max, huh?
Lydia Ratliff: Maybe it's a boy.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Siskel & Ebert & the Movies: (2007-03-10)" (2007)

Soundtrack:

Falling

Moving and beautifully filmed

I saw "The Namesake" at the 22nd October screening at the London Film Festival. Mira Nair introduced the film, along with Nitin Sawhney, who wrote the score.

I admit that I loved the book, and therefore have been looking forward to this film for a while. As a second generation Bengali Brit who was born in India and went to university in the US, I know something about what it means to feel displaced, to be a stranger in a strange land, though I have never felt like an immigrant. I also have the Bengali dilemma of having two names. So the book has a lot of resonance for me.

Fortunately the film does full justice to Jhumpa Lahiri's novel. Cramming a story spanning three decades into two hours without making it feel rushed or contrived takes some doing, and Mira Nair paces it beautifully. The cinematography, the editing (juxtaposing Calcutta and New York), and even the colours of the opening credits are all spot on.

The cast are by and large, superb. Kal Penn does really well as the central character, Gogol. Anyone who has seen him in Harold & Kumar and Van Wilder: Party Liaison may have had reservations about a comic actor (albeit talented) playing this part, but he portrays the character as a confused, vulnerable, and multi-layered young man who ultimately learns to become comfortable in his own skin.

But perhaps the main reason why this story appeals to me to so much is the similarity between the experiences of his parents Ashok and Ashima and what I imagine it must have been like for my own parents when they came to England. Both Irfan Khan and Tabu are excellent. They bring a mix of loneliness, hope and pathos to their roles, people who cannot let go of their past but are prepared to sacrifice everything for their future. Their innate ordinariness is what makes their characters so sympathetic and believable.

Much like Monsoon Wedding, this is a visual and lyrical film. It is an essay on home, and on going home, not the physical place, but the state of mind.