Rediff.com reports that Mira Nair has cast Bollywood star Tabu to play the role of Ashima in her filming of Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Namesake. The film which is currently in pre-production, and scheduled to be completed in 2006, also stars SM favorite Kal Penn as the main protagonist Gogol Ganguli, described by Nair as the “fastest rising Indian American star this side of the ocean.” Nair is reportedly in talks with Kate Hudson to play Gogol’s (Kal Penn’s) American interest. Hudson incidentally will be playing the lead in Gurinder Chadha’s next blockbuster I Dream of Jeannie.
Nair said her version of the Namesake would stay
“fairly close to the book. I have made only two changes. One change is that Ashima [the protagonist] is a singer in my film because I want to use music. I love to create soundtracks for my films. Another change – to keep the budget in check – is that I have changed the Cambridge Massachusetts location in the book to New York.”
After The Namesake, Nair is scheduled to start on Gangsta M.D., the Hollywood version of Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s Bollywood hit, Munnabhai MBBS. Chris Tucker has apparently been tagged by Nair to play Sanjay Dutt’s role, although he has not yet committed to the film. I wonder if Nair will add some Bollywood Flair to this one. I can see it now, Tucker and some Bollywood hottie breaking out into an impromptu Hip-Hop meets Bollywood/Bhangra song-and-dance number.
More here and here on Nair’s projects.
Spoiler warning: I talk about plot elements of the book here.
I have changed the Cambridge Massachusetts location in the book to New York.
I wonder if this is going to work. Part of the point is that he moves away and is on his own. He’s going to move from the Upper West Side to Brooklyn or something?
How come no one has a problem with an FOB making a movie about an ABCD. I think the movie is going to be lame. Just because Mira Nair is Indian does not mean she knows what it is to grow up Indian in America. It would be like if Jumpa Lahiri were to write about Indians in India…damn, and I was an roll too, yo.
As far as I recall, the story centers on Gogol’s mother, not so much Gogol until the very end. Beyond which, there are no second-gen U.S. desi filmmakers of Nair’s stature yet. It takes time.
Huh? For a second I thought you were being serious :)) But wait a minute are you?
The whole book is about Gogol. Unless Nair’s movie is some kind of spin-off of the book. And if they can find someone the stature of Kal Penn (it’s Kumar!), I am sure they can find a second generation director. (Or are ABCDs first generation; and what is the difference between a first cousin and a second cousin). How about M. Night Shyamalan. Hmmm I see another movie in my mind — a Shyamalaneseque Namesake. Now that I would watch.
IMO Gogol is not the primary protagonist, despite the title. Gogol never comes to life, while Ashima is richly and warmly drawn. They each take up around half the book.
And Shyamalan is building a noveau Hitchcock niche, he hasn’t done this kind of film.
I am sorry Manish but you are wrong. It’s all about me.
Saurav- I wondered the same thing when I read that she had changed the location from Boston to NYC. But then it was never clarified if she was changing the “story” away from Cambridge or if she was just shooting in NYC but going to make it “pretend Cambridge”. I kind of felt part of the point was the growth and personal experimentation that Gogol goes through after moving out of the house…
I’m sorry, Gogol. It’s all about me. —The Original Gogol (O.G.)