It is a picture that I imagine many who read this blog have a variation of in one form or another. You know, that image of the the nuclear desi-American family– returned to the sub-Continent for a long (summer) vacation– of mom, dad, brother, sister posing in front of the Taj Mahal. The group is huddled close on that bench hoping for the perfect portrait. And really, how can the picture be bad? That grand marble monument towering in the background, its skewed reflection glimmering in the rectangular pond. Observing that familiar image reflected on the movie screen and understanding that feeling of closeness and comfort of being together in a foreign place, put a big smile on my face, as did most of Mira Nair’s latest film The Namesake.
I know we’ve previously blogged a review of the film, but this was a very personal book for me, I think for most of us. I even made my mom, who doesn’t usually read “English novels” read the book, and she loved it. So I think the movie merits more than just one review. In any case, I’ll do my best not to repeat too many of the things cicatrix mentioned earlier, and promise to stay away from the word timepass. The film was “just too good yar,” to merit the use of the word to describe it.
I find it hard to have high expectations for movies based on books. I have been burned too many times. With that in mind, my expectations for the movie were upward leaning, but not over reaching. I didn’t know how Nair could add visuals to a novel that was for me already so vivid. As the stunning opening credits blurred between Bengali and English, I immediately knew Lahiri’s story was in good hands. Nair and her longtime collaborator Sooni Taraporevala’s treatment stayed true to the novel while also providing an original point of view. Their take does a fine job of including the highlights of the book, but in their attempt to hit all the major points, the movie misses some of the extras that made the story so poignant. (Warning: Spoiler Alert, especially if you haven’t read the book)
The inclusion of the Ashima and Ashoke’s early years was good, but I wanted to see more of their early married life, more of Ashima’s struggle adjusting to life in America. To life without her family. To life without the familiar. I wanted to see her overcome that struggle, and grow into her life in America, as we saw in the novel. I think that is an important part of the story, and not spending enough time on some of these nuances took away from the story’s gravitas. The significance of the late night/early morning phone call for example, how was the audience supposed to know that odd-timed phone calls only meant significant news from India, usually bad?
I also wanted to see more of Sonia (Sahira Nair) and Gogol (Kal Penn). As my sister pointed, the book gives Sonia the shaft, so it was wrong for me to expect more of her in the film. Fine. But on their trip to India , I wanted to see more background, the disappointment from the kids in having to leave for their whole summer vacation, more awkward interaction between the American cousins and their family in Calcutta. I wanted the audience to understand and the movie to show that feeling of having all this family so far away, whom the ability with which to connect to is handicapped by distance. As cliche as it sounds, I wanted the film to show more of the duality of hyphenated-American life. But in the end, this is a minor quibble.
In the novel, Gogol’s character kept the story moving, he was the protagonist. What I found suprising was that in the film, it was Ashima, to the credit of Bollywood actress Tabu, who pushed the story forward. Tabu’s take on Ashima was simply brilliant. Her performance was flawless and natural, and she really made the character come to life. For me, Tabu stole the show, completely overshadowing the perfomance of every other actor in the film. If I was to identify with any character in the book, it would have been with that of Gogol, but in the film, it was Ashima, who made me feel at home. In her, I saw our mothers, and their struggle. I can’t say it enough, Tabu’s performance struck me, and is reason enough to go back and see the movie again and again.
I must also give credit to Irfan Khan, whose subtle, guarded portryal of Ashoke, represented perfectly the hands-off desi style of hands-on parenting. He stayed far enough away to not be outwardly emotionally involved, but close enough for us to know he really cared. Zuleikha Robinson’s Moushimi, I didn’t like her character, but Robinson played it greatly. Moushimi is sultry and trashy at the same time, and Robinson brought this vibe to the movie in the short on-screen time she was alloted. I know many a reviewer disagree with me and have genuinely liked Penn’s performance, given that this role was his first major dramatic one, but I wasn’t too impressed. After his appearances on 24 and Law and Order (and to be fair, Penn should take any role he gets, terrorist, 7-11 clerk, or otherwise–he will be soon starring in an upcoming comedy pilot on ABC about paramedics) my expectations were low, and to that end he didn’t disappoint. Just comparing his reaction to Ashoke’s death with Tabu’s, Penn’s seemed force. The dramatic didn’t seem natural to him. I think Nair must be given credit for her ability to draw out whatever drama she could from him, but my wife and I both felt he used that same dumbfounded expression (the one we saw in American Desi, Harold and Kumar, Where’s the Party Yaar?) throughout the film. This may come across as hate, but clearly Nair saw something in him, and I think he can do better. To give him the benefit of the doubt, this was his first major dramatic role.
In the end, Nair’s big-screen translation didn’t disappoint. The visuals were more subtle than Monsoon wedding, but striking nonetheless. The transitions between countries were seemless, the blending of Calcutta’s massive bridges and streets into New York’s was natural, and symbolic at the same time. She did it, Nair successfully added color to an already amazing story. I mentioned earlier that I smiled almost the whole film, until the last seen anyway. It was the final party held at the Ganguli home dramatized on screen that got me in the end. Ashima is saying goodbye to the family she and her husband had created in America (from the novel):
“For 33 years she missed her life in India. Now she will miss her job in the library, the women with whom she’s worked. She will miss throwing parties. She will miss living with her daughter, the surprising companionship they have formed, going into cambridge together to see old movies at the Capital Brattle, teaching her to cook the food Sonia had complained of eating as a child. She will miss the opportunity to drive, as she sometimes does on her way home from the library, to the university, past the engineering building where her husband once worked. She will miss the country in which she had grown to know and love her husband. Though his ashes have been scattered into the Ganges, it is here in this house and in this town, that he will continue to dwell into her mind….”
Great film. Go see it!
I miss Manish. Remember his search-and-replace riff on The Namesake?
At least the movie plays in your city (I assume). I need to get out of here, ASAP.
It was great. If you don’t remember it, you can find it here.
Thanks Sajit — another good review of the film (and very different from Cicatrix’s).
The was an audible “oh no” kind of sound in the theatre when the phone rang, at least where I was.
I did too. But I’m realizing that’s it’s going to take more than one book and its film to make “other people” understand me. 😉
P.S. I could not even read the passage quoted at the end without tearing up.
I am seeing the movie tonight in Philadelphia. I think I need to buy a hanky or else am doomed to have bits of kleenex all over my face.
I’m glad you said something about Kal Penn’s performance because I’ve been a little aprehensive abut that. I’m really enthusiastic about him, but I don’t necessarily find him that good of an actor. Now I know not to have too high of expectations, because otherwise he may disappoint.
I found both Ashima and Ashoke remarkable characters. Ashima, not much more can be said about her, wonderful performance. Ashoke I think reclaimed the style of masculinity that a desi man can be proud of. It was quite remarkable that the family was presented as normative. great story, and there is more there. it shows that the familiar conflicts of desi-americans are still ripe for introspection, but only at a deeper level, apart from the distorted depictions that only end where they should be starting. previous characterizations may have ended with lines like “its the american away” when Ashoke offers to make Ashima tea……in some movies that would have been enough to explain their relationship, but here it went satisfyingly further
Inothernews: Definitely take a hanky, and keep it for the end. On Penn, I am curious what others think, so report back. I don’t want to be too harsh on the bruv, but he shouldn’ get a free pass either.
Same as every other Mira Nair movie. She tries to cover 100 goddamn things in one movie.
Lets look at this one:
The awkwardness of the Indian wedding set up thing New immigrants coming to a new country Immigrant kids wanting to be white (I hate my name, but then love it at the end) Dating/Marrying white kids Indian girls not wanting to be “good Indian wifes” so they f*ck everything in sight
It’s too damn much. Look, just tackle one issue at a time, shit just happened way to fast.
Also fck that btch who cheated.
Saw it last week. STRONG film. An unmissable work of art.
Warning: Major Spoilers ahead *******
Saw the film last night. Big theatre. It was packed. I was so excited. Those gorgeous credits. That was it. From then on the movie appeared really generic. If Tabu hadn’t held it together i don’t know what would be left. Especially – that first shot KP in the classroom. WHY is he looking around like a sociopath? Here is my question: Every immigrant deals with distance and loneliness. Every kid rebels against his parents. Nothing made the Gangulis different. Or at least, there was not enough detail to warrant me to want spend time with them for the complexity of their situation. For example – the point where KP tells reminisces with his wife about road trips and tiffins. Why wasn’t that shown? And a movie revolving around a name? I don’t know. In America where people are famous for “Formerly being known as Prince?” Where every Asian guy I know has two names? Didn’t seem enough of an anchor. And the patronising potrayal of the caucasian girlfriend did not work too. OK – so his father passed away. And he suddenly feels he needs to lose the girlfriend. I know there was a reason. But show me why, please. I was so underwhelmed. And most of all – in the last ten years the world has shrunk (pun inteneded), not enough disconnect to make the scene about the sweaters work. That was the challenge that Nair had. And I think she came up short.
And it was inconsistent – the living room where TAbu sits by the Xmas tree is so tasteful and the cramped kitchen seems to belong to a different house completely. Loved the shots of Calcutta. I for one, halfway thru the film ,wished they had just let the camera roll on Calcutta. Or, a singular deeper investigation of Tabu’s evolution would have been a better choice. As i was walking out I wanted to tell the people around me – Listen, we ARE not so boring. Really. In short – too many mundane threads , too few dimensions.
“Indian girls not wanting to be “good Indian wifes” so they f*ck everything in sight”
Now I would pay to see that movie!
~If Tabu hadn’t held it together i don’t know what would be left
I’m sorry, I disagree. I think Irfan was the star. Did nobody! notice her bad bengali accent?!
Neale: this made me almost spit out the big swig of coffee, and I haven’t even seen the movie yet.
“Especially – that first shot KP in the classroom. WHY is he looking around like a sociopath?” – sorry, I get tripped up trying to do the quotes.
Hilarious! I also find KP’s acting talents disappointingly limited. He was pretty average in Law & Order; and while I do support his acting career, I wish he’d develop his dramatic side a little better.
We’re working on it. Thanks for being patient.
I remember reading somewhere that Mira Nair originally wanted Abhishek Bachchan to play Gogol but the dates didn’t work out. I keep finding myself wondering how he would have been in this-somehow I feel his tall dark and handsome would have suited the film more. Maybe that’s just me.
Incidentally Mira Nair’s husband tells us that Idi Amin was a good man.
Idi Amin was a good man: Columbia University Professor
A good movie, but one of the most disturbing moments for me was the use of a throw-away line where Gogol refers to having been made to feel like an untouchable. Really? Has it become so passe to be untouchable that a middle class, upper caste person would know what the experience is like?
Comment #19 is not by me.
honestly i found the book rather trivial. i feel we (the parent immigrants) to be far more complex animals than our children. our attempts to understand our new world is a more patient and therefore mature one. Our children on the other hand have way too much information to absorb and so remain rather naive in their understanding of the bengali culture(for one, they totally ‘do not get’ the subtleties of our culture, which is missing a lot)Nonetheless the book was about kolkata and NYC and i’d like to see if Tabu and Irfan were able to bring any color to two otherwise black & white characters. So here’s hoping the movie will someday be released in the backwaters of Phx, AZ.
Thanks for changing that folks.
Kobayashi-san, least we could do. We heart you, you know.
I just saw it at Angelika! The movie was very relatable w/ natural acting. The parents were portrayed as real human people, not stereotypes. This movie will make teens and other very young people think about all that their parents have done for them!
I didn’t like how Maxine and her family were characterized; my mom (who read the book) and said they are not one-note people. Maxine’s mom pronounced “Nikhil” wrong! Come on-he’s nearly engaged to her kid!
As for Kal Penn, I thought he did great in a serious role. He played a “regular” guy you could come across anywhere!
“I didn’t like how Maxine and her family were characterized; my mom (who read the book) and said they are not one-note people. Maxine’s mom pronounced “Nikhil” wrong! Come on-he’s nearly engaged to her kid!”
I have friends that have known me for years and still can’t pronounce my name.
Over all, I liked the film but I was expecting more. I missed the character development, and a lot of my favorite scenes were cut.
I just saw this on Rediff, chasing through the link of merit above that Kobayashi Moshai defends as his– this succinct comment from Mira Nair’s husband so totally sums it up, it deserves to be amplified and broadcast all over:
havent seen the movie yet. My dad asked me about it today…FUCK i cant believe india lost to bangladesh by 5 wickets! damn india got too cocky!
I agree. But here’s the catch, from my experience most parents raising their kids in the USA aren’t doing for the “We have to give our kids opportunity and that’s only present here in the land of opportunity!” as was presented in the movie. Reality has shown, that most parents stay out of inability and unwillingness to change the status quo, as Tabu’s character says in the end, “I used to miss my life in India, now I will miss my life here” At its simplest level, they get used to it.
I have personal experience, I lived in another state for 3 years, when I first went there I hated it, in fact I hated it most of the time I was there, but after I left, I began to miss it. It’s a strange human reaction…
Another anecdote, in graduate school, I met tons of Indians just off the PLANE. All of them had the same line : “I’m going to finish my studies, work for 2-3 years, then move back.” After 4-5 years, how many of them are actually back? A big fat goose egg.
The “Kobayashi” who said this is a fake:
That isn’t how Kobayashi writes, furthermore Mr. K stays on topic.
No threadjacking here, but what if someone writes to escape from personality (ref: Eliot)? What if someone deliberately injects ambiguity to create an occasion for the revision of knowledge? 🙂 wow … off-topic, again
It’s not a point about style, it’s one about sloppiness of expression. Trust me, you wouldn’t like it if somebody hijacked your handle and used it to write poorly. Also, I can check the IP addresses, and since we know the real Mr.K. ask him if need be.
Just saw the movie yesterday and enjoyed it far more than I had anticipated. I’m not really feeling many of the criticisms. The story was “ordinary” but it was worthwhile watching, more than just good time-pass. I thought the acting by the parents, esp by Tabu was the strongest, but that KP did a good job. Sure, he was a gangly awkward teenager, but I’ve known many of that sort. Did he overact his grief, later? Not to me – I’ve seen others grieve and found it realistic. And yes, it did pull at my heartstrings. That scene and the scenes around it were far more raw than I had expected. My main complaint was that it was choppy, but that has to do with the constraints of space and time, you can’t do much about that. I can’t compare to the book though, since I haven’t read it yet.
IMHO, that would have been a disaster. For one thing, AB doesn’t have anywhere near the range that KP has, the movie would have really suffered.
I also felt a sadness when Gogol’s character says he feels like an “untouchable”. It seemed such a trite attitude to such a terrible problem in India. But perhaps this reflects the character itself, Gogol, not really coming to terms with his layered cultural identity and not taking into account the horrors that others live in.
When I read the book, his character was familiar to me, and reminded me of many South Asians I met growing up, who never seemed to be introspective. I sometimes think I was too introspective. Anyways I never got along with kids like that.
All in all I thought the movie was great and Tabu really carried the film – it was funny how she never seemed to age though!
You might want to see these interviews (Jhumpa in a sari) and movie clips.
I expected to see a slow-moving drama and it delivered. I expected no message from it, no fireworks from it and no solutions to any angst, so I was happy with the film outcome.
Kal should have tried to imitate Amir Khan in DCH – the way Amir transformed from being a brat in Bombay to a this angsty dude in Sydney, that was nice.
Comment #15 was not posted by me…
WARNING SPOILERS
For two reasons. Firstly, he felt like he had betrayed his father by choosing the girlfriend and her family over his, and he was recoiling from guilt and regret. But it was more than that – she really had no clue at all. She existed in a very small and privileged bubble, but couldn’t navigate outside of it. She wanted him to come back to NYC, to go on vacation, to “forget” when he was desperately trying to remember and capture as many of his memories of his father as possible. She showed up for the memorial ceremony wearing a black sleeveless dress, not having thought to ask what to wear, assuming that the western would work, whereas she really should have worn something white and modest. She said that he and his sister couldn’t live at home forever to keep his mother company, without realizing that his mother had never operated alone in her life. She inserted herself into the trip to India to scatter ashes without thinking about how it would be improper, or even asking.
The big thing is that she presumed, rather than asking. She had poor interpersonal sensitivity, and even worse inter-cultural sensitivity. That’s when he realized that she would be a hindrance in terms of what he needed to do next with his life.
Spot on. I wanted to punch her. (Not that I do that, really.)
No it wouldnt, a big dance number smack in the middle of the head-shaving scene is exactly what the movie needed.
100%, please update your politicians and save the post for a topic that directly deals with nationalism, regionalism, and identity. If this isn’t a drive-by posting you should know there are plenty of those here.
My parents saw the Namesake yesterday, and I had watched it before. They were particularly interested in seeing my generation’s experiences through Gogol. That threw me off, because I was interested in the experiences shown through Ashima and Ashoke.
Neat stuff.
Ennis, I definitely got all that. But it seems too easy – the insensitive white girlfriend. IMHO, there could have been a nuance. I felt like I was being hit on the head with a hammer. Even the scene where he first receives the bad new, the camera shows the girl’s family fading into the background. Literally. Too heavy handed. And the mother’s acceptance of a whie son-in-law is just glossed over. I really wish there were more scenes like ‘”We are not guys!” i think you have a point about “…not operating alone.” But i wish it had gone deeper with that angle. A good place would have been where she decides not to go to Ohio. We get her “no” and then the airport. Did she love her library job so much?
I identifed with the movie. But that is not enough. I went to see something i will not get when talking to my fellow desi at the water cooler.
BTW – LA Times has a say about the NAmesake’s food angle in today’s paper.
Exactly. Gogol’s realization that she had no clue needed to be more nuanced. He spent all this time with her and her family, but all of a sudden she is on the outs? On the other hand, deaths of pimmediately family members have the ability to trigger things, but even then, its portrayal needed to be a bit more nuanced.
Naiverealist #30 “but what if someone writes to escape from personality (ref: Eliot)? “
English Lit major? I used to be one many moons ago (the early 70’s). I hardly read literary criticism anymore, but it just so happened that in the last week I have read quite a bit of T.S. Eliot.
Not to depart on my previous off-topic comment, have you folks checked with your parents about their reactions to the movie? For most of us, Gogol may not be quite the protagonist but the couple that came here, built a life over several decades and then was left with so little.
No. 🙂
Just wanted to mention that finding cross-situational consistency (Ashok at Calcutta/ Ashok at NYC) is a burden of the observer. The writer is free, and Eliot isn’t no Prufrock. I look for an exit from text.
i just bought the book today..maybe i should read it before i go see the movie?
No real criticism of the movie here (I enjoyed it, as did my non-desi boyfriend), just a question. I saw the movie last night and had a few moments where I was the only one in the theater laughing (the “dance” scene in the honeymoon suite, etc.) at things only “we” would get. Anyone else?
Saw the movie earlier today – and enjoyed. Even though it bore some resemblance to my family’s experience, there were a few differences. First, my mom wore sarees only when guests came over, or we headed out – never for going to work or just sitting around the house. Second – there was far less yelling in the Ganguli househould than there was in mine (husband vs. wife, parents vs. children, dad versus the phone company). But – this is is Lahiri’s story, and she brought the characters to life, even if the kid sister got a bit role. The last 20 minutes of the film appeared rushed, as if the film-makers were trying to squeeze in every bit from the book.
Penn did well in the role, but he was upstaged by Khan and Tabu. His relationship with his girlfriends seems a bit too forced, and did not seem as natural as the relationship with his parents.
SPOILER –
When Gogol went to his father’s university apartment to collect his belongings and broke down – that was unsettling, cause it hit too close to home. Ten years ago, when my father and I were not on speaking terms for several months and he suffered a heart attack, my reaction was pretty much Gogol’s. Living several hundred miles apart, and not able to do anything was an awful feeling. I trashed my apartment, and only gathered my senses when an ex-girlfriend came over to calm me down. As she drove me to the airport the next morning, it was like my mind was blank. This was before everyone had a cellphone, so being away from a phone was tense. Although Dad recovered, we are both too damn stubborn and set in our ways to communicate, and still let months go by without saying a word to each other.
Ennis-
Sorry if my post wasn’t clear, I didn’t mean that I thought AB would have necessarily been a better actor in the role–I just though, looks wise, it might have worked better. Sometimes when you read a book you have an idea of what a character might look like in your head, and usually movies hit pretty close but, as much as I adore KP, he’s not what I pictured when I read the book. Not that I pictured AB, but I definitely had in mind someone a bit more physically substantial. AB also looks a bit too old, I’ll concede that point. I was just curious to know if I was the only one who thought KP looked a little…boyish.
Loved the movie though, am a non-desi but love anything Indian, and went with alot of desi and non-desi friends to see the film and we all just loved it. I agree with whoever posted about it being a bit choppy, but I don’t think it took too much away from the film. 8/10.
Abhishek Bachchan probably wouldn’t have been able to do an american accent well.
SM intern…thanks for troll cleanup!…Liked the movie quite a bit..overheard a comment in the aisles that stuck in my head…an aunty I know who happens to be Gujarati commented to her husband that the film had a distinct Bengali tone…she wasn’t being mean she like the film (I asked)…..Can any Bengalis in the house comment if they feel the film resonates in a particularly Bengali way and if so why?