Namesake: The Movie Review

About a year back I had read the novel, and had reviewed it: The Namesake

When I heard that they are making a movie on it, I was worried. The book is so beautiful, with characters sketched in details, lovely scenes, subtle references ect. How would Mira Nair cram all of this in two hours? I waited with bated breath.
Slowly the marketing hype began to be built around it. Mira Nair and Tabu even came on Koffee with Karan. It was left to be seen whether the movie would justify the hype.


So how exactly is the movie? Not too impressive. Let me elaborate.

The Good:
The movie has Tabu as Ashima, a role which she pulls off with ease. You can imagine her as the lonely woman who does not want to raise her son in this foreign country, or as the woman who tries the prospective groom's shoes before she accepts him. When you see her suddenly start singing, embarrassing her children in the process, you can see your mother in her.

Irfan as Ashok Ganguli, is perfect, with his diction, his mannerism or even the way he talks to his son.

Zuleikha Robinson is exactly what I had pictured Moushami to be. She looks just like the shallow, confused, hot slut that I had pictured her as, after reading the book.

The Bad:

Kal Penn is definitely the weak link here. He definitely has talent; he not just Kumar or the secretary of the Party liaison, but he is dwarfed by Irfan and Tabu. Or maybe it's the director's fault that his character's growth is not shown properly. His sister, as well as Maxine make just guest appearances, a far cry from the pivotal roles they play in Gogol's life.


The Ugly

The blame without a doubt, lies with Mira Nair. She has been faithful to the story, taking small scenes from the book, and bringing them out wonderfully on the screen. She brings out the subtleties like the expressions on Ashima's face when Maxine calls her by her first name. Or the small fights between the siblings and so on.

Where she fails, is in properly sketching out the characters. There are about 2 scenes describing Gogol's angst against his name, before he decides to change it. Or that the interaction between Gogol and Moushami is almost nonexistent, before they marry. On seeing the scene where they have their first date, you feel that he is attracted to her only sexually, which is not the case. Or that you almost don't know the sister. I could name a thousand different things which bothered me. The movie seems to lack continuity, and seems patchy.

Another problem, is that there are several jarring scenes. Take the weeding night scene. I really don't see why you have to have them dance on Hindi film music or mouth clichéd dialogues. Or take Ashima's speech in the end. How in the name of god does she come up with that kind of language? It just seems so out of place.



Ok I think I am being rather unfair to the movie; No movie can capture the soul of a book...
Wait... Peter Jackson did.