Posted: DesiFM Webmaster on Jun 08 | Bollywood Movies
MOVIE REVIEW
Cast: Kal Penn, Tabu, Irrfan Khan
Director: Mira Nair
Producer: Mira Nair, Lydia Dean Pilcher
Music Director: Nitin Sawhney
Cinematographer: Frederick Elmes
Mira Nair’s ‘The Namesake’ is based on Pulitzer Prize winning author Jhumpa Lahiri’s book ‘The Namesake’. The story belongs to two places at one time. Nair herself has visited this subject matter twice already, with Mississippi Masala and The Perez Family. This is also not the first time Nair has explored the dynamics of an Indian family; Monsoon Wedding still easily ranks as one of the best movies with a crisp storyline and clear thought making.
Ashima (Tabu) arrives from Calcutta with Ashoke Ganguli(Irfan Kahn), her husband by arranged marriage. Ashoke has been studying fiber optics at a New York City university from the past two years. Alone in a cold and strange city, Ashima pines for Calcutta and the company of her parents and close-knit extended family.
Shortly after Ashoke and Ashima give birth to their first child, a son, in a New York hospital, they are informed that the child must have a name before they are discharged. Because the name is traditionally decided by the maternal grandmother, who is living in India, Ashoke decides to give his son a temporary name, to be changed later, and names him “Gogol”.
The letter, however, never arrives, so the baby’s unusual pet name, “Gogol,” after Russian writer Nicolai Gogol, whose stories Ashoke believes once saved his life, winds up on the birth certificate. Gogol’s (Kal Penn) determination to change his “pet name” to the “good name” his parents eventually chose — “Nikhil,” again in honor of Gogol — grows even stronger.
But after attempting to move away and into the lives of his wealthy, waspy girlfriend (Jacinda Barrett) and her parents (Glenne Headly, Daniel Gerroll), “Nikhil” discovers that changing his name and escaping all it represents are two very different things. The struggles of Gogol, in many ways a typical American kid who just longs to be like everyone else, to come to terms with his name and his culture, serve as the narrative framework for the movie.
There are many beautiful moments in the film which leave you mesmerized, moved and captivated with the simple and delicate way Mira Nair has potrayed the story onscreen. The best thing about The Namesake is that although nothing that happens is altogether surprising or shocking, it also feels wholly organic and wonderfully authentic.
The movie doesn’t insult the viewer by bludgeoning you with its message or playing anything in a way that is ever big or obvious. Instead, it slowly pulls you in and lets you discover what makes these characters for who they are, in the context of their lives.
Tabu and Irrfaan Khan were very ably cast as Ashima and Ashoke Ganguli. The chemistry between them seems natural and pure. Very beautiful. Best known as a comic actor from his roles in HAROLD AND KUMAR GO TO WHITE CASTLE and National Lampoon’s VAN WILDER movies, Penn acquits himself respectably enough in what’s essentially a dramatic role.
The only difference that the movie carries with the book is that, here the lady Ashima Ganguli perspective stiches the story whereas the book used Gogol as its focal point. The film is well crafted and is rich in humour. It also has the ability to make you cry. Sooni Taraporewalla, screenplay writer deserves the credit for this.
The movie does feel a little over long and more episodic than narrative. But it’s a very good film. The film has a universal appeal to it which will surpass all hurdles.
Overall, it’s a film that stays with you after you’ve seen it.
Ratings: 7/10
Hanumant Bhansali
Full Movie
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