The Namesake

Genre: Drama
Director: Mira Nair
Cast: Tabu, Irrfan Khan, Kal Penn, Jacinda Barrett, Zuleikha Robinson
Storyline: About struggling to find your identity before it slips through the cracks of two alien cultures that define your existence
Bottomline: Impressive performances in a story well told



A great thing about Jhumpa Lahiri is her perceptiveness and maturity while defining relationships. And the great thing about Mira Nair is her perceptiveness about identity.
In `The Namesake,' the skills of these two women come together to tell a tale that makes for compelling viewing.
If you can forget the discrepancy of `Vanity Fair,' you will find this movie an intelligent match to Nair's critically acclaimed `Monsoon Wedding.'

Nicely moulded
The film, based on a novel of the same name by Lahiri, follows Ashoke Ganguli (Irrfan, Bengali accent authentically in place) and his bride Ashima (Tabu) to their new home in America. As strangers legally bound to a life together, they are trying to fit in with each other as much as they are with their new country.
The development of the relationship is moulded nicely, and the film moves at a languorous pace as the Gangulis warm to each other in awkward fits and starts. It is in the foreign country that their family grows.
Gogol (Kal Penn), their son, significantly named after the Russian author who inadvertently saved his father's life, not only has to deal with his Indian heritage but his unusual name.
In `The Namesake,' the director acknowledges that people don't always live by their stereotypes. So many British Indian films about the Indian cultural identity in a foreign land, find their conflict because the older generation refuses to adapt to the new, and the younger generation doesn't understand the old.
This is true to some extent over here, as Ashima disapprovingly notices her son's white girlfriend caress him and is shocked when the girl calls her by her name, instead of the infinitely more respectful `aunty.' But the thing is, she attempts to cover up to make the children feel comfortable.
Another stereotype is turned on its head when Gogol finds that his good Indian girl refuses to take his name, has a life of her own, and appears to have had a lot more lovers than he.
The screenplay by Sooni Taraporevala is sentimental without being cloying, and funny without being cheesy. The problem is that as the film progresses, the narrative picks up speed, like it has suddenly realised that it is running out of time.
This is always an issue when a film has been adapted from a novel - usually resolved by taking liberties with the plot.
But this plot is life, so the compromise is that later on in the film, the development is comparatively sketchy.
`The Namesake' is about finding roots, `know where you come from to get where you're going.' Interestingly, Kal is listed as Kalpen Modi, his original Indian name in the credits.
The best part of Nair's latest offering is that it manages to be moving and emotional without sinking into melodrama.
Watch out for a cameo by Jhumpa Lahiri.