Namesake, The
Spanning two generations, two clashing cultures and two very different ways of life that crash into each other only to become lovingly intertwined, The Namesake is ultimately about the imminently relevant question: what does it mean to be an American family?
In her most personal film to date, acclaimed director Mira Nair (Vanity Fair, Monsoon Wedding) brings to the screen a poignant and transporting version of Jhumpa Lahiri’s best-selling novel, which won reader’s hearts across the world with its exploration of the ties that can both tangle and bind global families as they brave the modern vicissitudes of change, conflict and disaster.
Jumping between the equally colorful and vibrant cities of Calcutta and New York, The Namesake is a family drama, but it’s about a very different kind of contemporary American family: the Gangulis, who come to the U.S. from India in order to experience a world of limitless opportunities – only to be confronted with the perils and confusion of trying to build a meaningful life in a baffling new society.
On the heels of their arranged marriage, Ashoke (Irrfan Khan) and Ashima (Tabu) jet off from sweltering Calcutta to a wintry New York where they begin their new life together. Virtual strangers to one another and with Ashima now living in a new and very strange land, their relationship quickly takes a turn when Ashima gives birth to a son. Under pressure to name him quickly, Ashoke settles on Gogol, after the famous Russian author – a name that serves as a link to a secret past and, Ashoke hopes, a better future. But life isn’t as easy for Gogol as his parents might wish. As a first-generation American teenager, Gogol (Kal Penn) must learn to tread a razor-thin line between his Bengali roots and his American birthright in the search for his own identity. As Gogol attempts to forge his destiny – rejecting his given name, dating a rich American girl (Jacinda Barrett), heading to study architecture at Yale – his parents cling to their Bengali traditions. But their paths keep crossing with both comic and painfully revelatory consequences . . . until Gogol begins to see the links between the world his parents left behind and the new world that lies in front of him.
Directed by
Mira Nair
Cast
Irfan Khan - Ashoke Ganguli
Jagannath Guha - Ghosh
Ruma Guha Thakurta - Ashoke's Mother
Tabu - Ashima Ganguli
Sandip Deb - Music Teacher
Kal Penn - Gogol
Glenne Headly - Lydia Ratliff
Jacinda Barrett - Maxine Ratliff
Sukanya - Rini
Tanusree Shankar - Ashima's Mother
Sabyasachi Chakravarthy - Ashima's Father
Stuart Rudin - Crazy Wino
Production Co.
Cine Mosaic
Entertainment Farm
Mirabai Films
UTV Motion Pictures
Produced by
Yasushi Kotani
Taizo Son
Ronnie Screwvala
Studios
Fox Searchlight Pictures
Writer
Sooni Taraporevala
Jhumpa Lahiri
Music
Nitin Sawhney
