The Namesake

Rating:	★★★
Category:	Movies
Genre:	Drama

What do you do with your ugly daughter ?
Send her to Paris.Here She will learn to be a sultry smoking seductress ! No kidding !

The Namesake (2003) is the second book by author Jhumpa Lahiri. It was originally a novella published in The New Yorker and was later expanded to a full length novel. It explores many of the same emotional and cultural themes as her Pulitzer Prize-winning short story collection Interpreter of Maladies. Moving between events in Calcutta, Boston, and New York City, the novel examines the nuances involved with being caught between two conflicting cultures with their highly distinct religious, social, and ideological differences.

I haven't read the novel myself, but it is supposed to be good.
The movie , is supposed to exceed the novel.In all my life (about 23 years) I've never seen a movie being better than its Novel.

The movie revolves around Ashoke Ganguly (Irfan khan) , Ahshima (tabu) , Gogol (kal pen) and the rest of the cast are really bystanders with not much screen time.
Kal penn , originally Kalpen modi , had to anglicise his name to get More auditions in hollywood.

I'd say that all the actors deliver a fine performance.You forget that none of the lead actors are bengali.Tabu plays a beautiful yet elegiac Ahshima with a lot of conviction.Irfan khan , well , he is one of the finest actors of India , so enough said.
Kal penn is good , though I was waiting for him to start his antics like in his previous movies.

The story is a picaresque plot about the ups and downs of life as faced by the Ganguly family , and later the teen angst and rebellion brought on by an identity crisis , and goes on detailing the effects of death on the family and its consequences.
Quick Spoiler:
Gogol hates his name : it's weird , it troubles him , but he finally makes peace with himself .

The fatal flaw in the movie is the lack of pace.As I said before , it is a picaresque plot.But the highs are not as high as you think they are and the lows don't move you as much as you'd expect them to.
I guess the biggest mistake I made was to watch the trailer too many times.The trailer literally has all the best bits of the movie.But the trailer is edited in such a way that you expect more from the movie.Alas , it doesn't deliver .

There are a few cutesy moments , like the sparkling interaction between Irfan and tabu and Kal penn and Zuleikha , but thats it.It does not hold many surprises for you.
I guess , I'm the kind of guy who likes 'Back Friday " more than "The Namesake "


So Am I supposed to wax about this movie just because every one else is ?
No I will not.
Its the same as the 'Emperor's New Clothes " , http://www.cremationofcare.com/the_nwo_pie_emperors_new_clothes.htm