The Namesake (film)

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The Namesake
Image:The Namesake.jpg Promotional poster for The Namesake
Directed by	Mira Nair
Written by	Jhumpa Lahiri (novel) & Sooni Taraporevala
Starring	Tabu Irfan Khan Kal Penn Zuleikha Robinson Jacinda Barrett Sahira Nair
Release date(s)	March 9 2007
Language	English / Bengali / Hindi
IMDb profile

The Namesake (2007) is a film which received a limited release in the United States on March 9 2007. It has been screened at film festivals in Toronto and New York.

It is directed by Mira Nair and is based upon the novel The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri. Sooni Taraporevala adapted the novel to a screenplay.

Contents 1 Story 2 Soundtrack 3 MPAA rating 4 Trivia 5 External links

Story

The Namesake describes the struggles between two first generation Bengali immigrants to the United States, Ashima Ganguli (Tabu) and Ashoke Ganguli (Irfan Khan), and their children, Gogol (Kal Penn) and Sonali (Sonia) (Sahira Nair). The featured locales are Kolkata, India, New York City, New York suburbs of Westchester and Oyster Bay.

The story begins as Ashoke and Ashima leave Kolkata and settle in New York. Through a series of errors and trials, their son's nickname, Gogol, becomes his official birth name, an event which will shape many aspects of his life. The film uses Gogol's struggles over his name as a jumping off point to explore large issues of integration, assimilation and cultural identity. The film chronicles Gogol's cross-cultural experiences and his exploration of his Indian heritage, as the story shifts between the United States and India. Gogol eventually meets and falls in love with two women, Maxine (Jacinda Barrett) and Moushumi (Zuleikha Robinson), while his parents struggle to understand his modern, American perspectives on dating, marriage and love.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack has varied music, Indian, Anglo-Indian, and a French piece. One British-Indian electronica piece is State of Bengal's IC408. The French piece is the song, Allo!, Bonjour Monsieur.

MPAA rating

PG-13 for sexuality/nudity, a scene of drug use, some disturbing images and brief language.

Trivia

• Jhumpa Lahiri, the author of the novel The Namesake, will appear in the film as Aunt Jhumpa.
• Mira Nair initially wanted Rani Mukherjee to play the role of Ashima after she had seen her in Karan Johar's Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna. Rani Mukherjee couldn't sign the film due to date problems. After that, Mira Nair wanted Konkona Sen Sharma to play the role. She couldn't commit due to her mother Aparna Sen's film 15, Park Avenue. After which the director signed Tabu for the role.[1]
• Like the character he plays, actor Kal Penn modified his name from Kalpen Modhi, when his agents suggested he anglicize it to get more auditions in Hollywood.
• The film was originally the most distant of three projects Mira Nair and Sooni Taraporevala were working on together, but was the first produced.
• Screenwriter Sooni Taraporevala wrote the final drafts of the film just as her own photography book on India's Parsi Zoroastrians was being published.
• The novel was set in Boston,Massachusetts, but the locale was moved to New York City in the film adaptation.
• Renowned Subaltern Studies project scholar Partha Chatterjee, famous for his work on nationalism has a cameo in the film, credited as Reformed Hindu.

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