Nair Directs The Namesake
Kal Penn Struggles to Discover Cultural Identity
An Indian Family Immigrates To New York. Nair, The Director, Chronicles Two Generations of Their Lives Through Marriages, Births, Deaths, and Cultural Identities.
The Path of a Name
Mira Nair directs The Namesake as a compelling chronicle of an Indian immigrant family’s journey through two generations of marriage, births, and deaths. In the film, the events that occur and shape the Ganguli family are not much different than our own.
Nair’s screenwriting partners, Sooni Taraporvala narrate this extensive story into two hours. The main themes revolve around cultural displacement, the power of accidents or fate, and the complexities that arise between tradition and modern ways. The film is based on the best-selling novel, The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri and what becomes apparent is that the film simply does not have the screen time it needs to fully explore the complications.
The movie's fateful course begins in the late 1970s on a train to Calcutta when Ashoke Ganguli (Irfan Khan), as a young man, meets a fellow passenger. He encourages him to see the world. This combination of a chance meeting followed by a horrifying event, and the short story by Russian realist Nikolai Gogol that he is reading at the time that sets Ashoke's future. After Ashoke recovers, he marries Ashima (Tabu), a lovely Calcutta bride, and they immigrate to America.
A New Family Begins
For the newlyweds, building a family becomes almost mythic as they exchange the warmth and traditionally familiar for the coldness and secular lifestyle of New York. For the Gangulis, virtually everything seems fraught with cultural apprehension. Everything from tasting new foods (pizza, etc.), Ashima being served tea by her husband, and naming their firstborn in an untraditional way in the hospital illustrates the cultural changes and tension the family undergoes.
They name their first son Gogol (Kal Penn) and his sister Sonia (Sahira Nair, unrelated to the director). They grow up as Americans. Gogol blends in with his friends by smoking pot and cursing his parents for his name. Later, he finds a white girlfriend in college. Throughout the film, the focus is on Gogol and his transformation for a cultural identity. Sonia's character, however is sorely under-developed.
Irfan Khan and Tabu both shine in this film as a strong couple. Many who watch The Namesake will recognize characteristics in ta married couple so familiar and endearing. They play their roles convincingly leaving behind the conventional wisdom of Indian tradition. They depict an Indian immigrant marriage in times of of hardship, happiness, loss, and rejuvenation. Both as individuals and a pair, they held to their values but embrace the new ones they came to know in America.
The dualistic struggle between cultural identity and Americanization is portrayed well by Gogol. Throughout his life, he complains about his name, seeks out American girls in college, and longs to blend into American society. Only when a tragic event occurs does Gogol face his culture and return home.
One World
Nair’s films send the message of embracing the sanctity in all cultures. She discourages assimilation and illustrations why in all her films. She challenges individuals to see the best in both worlds.
Her debut feature, "Salaam Bombay!" set among the impoverished street kids of that city, was nominated for an Academy Award in 1988. Her delightful "Mississippi Masala," "The Perez Family" and "Monsoon Wedding" invoked an ethnic rainbow of characters from the Deep South to Uganda, India to Cuba. Even 2004's poorly received "Vanity Fair," which starred Reese Witherspoon, takes its English heroine to India.
