Mira Nair (Vanity Fair and Monsoon Wedding) creates a beautiful and traditional family journey from the colorful streets of Calcutta to dirty New York City: The Namesake is the family film for “generation now”. A stunning mix of traditional Indian beliefs and the American way; based on the bestselling book by Jhumpa Lahiri, the film follows generations of family from native India born and arranged marriage to first generation American born with freewill and choice.
The Namesake
4 & 1/2 Stars
A choice cast brings together a wonderful mix of color, comedy, love, talent and confusion about identity and family. The Namesake creates a since of security for the viewer, an attachment to the cast and a belief that they are a real family, the audience gets to smile warmly and cry with all their hearts as the two generations go through the trials and tribulations of life.
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The Namesake begins with Ashoke (Irrfan Khan) taking a trip to go see his grandfather. An older gentleman is sharing his space on the train with an accident happened that changed Ashoke’s life. The older man had told Ashoke to travel the world, gather a pillow and a blanket and travel see what there is to see and get the experience of a lifetime. After an almost near shake with death he decides to end his journey in New York.
Shortly after we are led back to India for a traditional arranged wedding between Ashoke and Ashima (Tabu), to this point Ashima has been completely raised as a traditional Indian bride. She does what the families say and leave her home with her new husband to arrive in a cold and frigid foreign country, New York. Confused and scared she begins with shrinking every sweater Ashoke owns, but conquers and shortly becomes a mother. True love grows quickly between Ashima and Ashoke and when Gogol (Kal Penn) arrives their bond only gets stronger. Gogol is their first, shortly followed by a little girl, Sonia (Sahira Nair). Both children are raised in the American way with a short side to tradition and belief of their ancestors from India.
Keeping connections with back home and making new family with other Bengali families, the Gangolis keep their children aware of family and tradition, still allowing them to get the American dream with education, career opportunities and love. Gogol’s journey begins with his name, his father named him after a Russian eccentric author, but Gogol doesn’t find out the true reason to his name till he becomes an adult.
After his father passes, he begins to think about his role as a Bengali and regrets not knowing his father better. He does what every good son should and stays by his mother’s side till she pretty well kicks his butt out of the house and gets him to move on. He falls in love with a woman he had met as a young teen and marries her. Come to find out, that even after you go through a traditional wedding, true love may not be the best reason to marry, but more over arrangements are the opportunity to get to know someone new. Sometimes tradition isn’t always a bad thing.
Loved it, The Namesake was a joy and wonderful experience. Great escape into a world I recognize and a new colorful world. I would recommend this film to anybody with taste and interest in family tradition and other cultures.