Such a frustrating disappointment

A Major Disappointment

The movie's only flaw is also a virtue: It's jammed with characters, stories, warmth and laughs.

The movie is made so realistic it has a lot of that WoW feeling at the right moments and never tooo over the top. the suspense is done so well and the emotion is felt. Very well put together with the music and all.

The Namesake is a compelling movie that looks at the life of an Indian family in the USA, and was produced a couple of years before Piyush "Bobby" Jindal was elected as Governor of Louisiana, and Nimrata "Nikki" Haley (née Randhawa) was elected Governor of South Carolina.It also was released just as Indian-Americans commenced their lock on the Spelling Bee. Anyway, the part where Gogol's wife started cheating on him seemed a bit abrupt, and there appeared to be no real backstory to this. Maybe it got left out of the editing perhaps I guess. Anyway, I'd love to see a sequel to The Namesake with Gogol navigating his way through politics perhaps.

Throughout the novel Gogol's life is explained in depth and through time. But in the movie time is not as evident and for example when Gogol in the novel finds out his wife is cheating on him there is a huge build up, starting with Moshumi getting frustrated with Gogol constantly and Gogol being completely in the dark about Moshumi's unhappiness. Moshumi finds a letter from an old flame that she ends up meeting and she becomes unlawful to her husband. Eventually Gogol finds out. But in the movie there is no build up there is old flame he just approaches her on the subject one day in the airport and they split apart. After the divorce almost a year later they show Ashima leaving their house permanently. But there is no apparent time difference it makes you believe that Gogol isn't even divorced by the time his mother moves back to India.

Good movies are like wine-better as they age. I had enjoyed the movie so much on the first viewing (few salient scenes like Ashok making the call from the phone booth in an hospital corridor, was still fresh in the memory) I reviewed the movie again and relived Mira Nair's excellent story telling of Jhumpa Lahiri's book. This duo are few of the best talent that Non Resident Indian's (NRI's) have to offer. The story is binding like a good book. Both Irrfan Khan and Kal Penn stand out with their acting. There are better actresses than Tabu, who is not a Bengali-neither Irrfan Khan but he looks more like a Ganguly-who could have done a better job, but NRI directors neither see Indian films nor they are familiar with good talent or their views are skewed.) The screenplay is short and simple with sprinkling of Indian humor. Mira Nair, has a knack of narrating a story in short takes that has a lot of depth and at the same time keeps the story moving (like Ashima waving at Ashok or Ashok taking Gogol on the short pier, missing the camera or the time when Ashok gifts a book on Gogol's birthday) She doesn't dwell too much on a scene. Kal Penn, is one actor who really does a great justice to his part, where millions of teenagers can identify with-caught between cultures and identity. The ending is poignant. Two flaws by Nair-if she had skipped few scenes,this could have been a family movie instead of PG-13 and would fetched a wider audience. Two, the casting of Tabu and Moushami (the Robinson gal is not in the same caliber as the rest of the cast-she is fat and annoying). She could have easily casted Indian actresses. Still, All said and done, this is the best work of Mira Nair.

My expression after the movie was not exactly something like mind blowing, although undoubtedly it kept me wondering for a long time. keeping words to my insanity about movie-knowledge, I came to know about Mira (The director)for the very first time by this film. But after watching that, I am eagerly looking forward to watch some of her more. There were too many good shots to mention during the two hours. The screening was awesome! As TABU is in my all time favorite list, it should not require much words to describe her whereas IRFAN KHAN and KAL PANE were genuine in their own roles. But beyond all their excellency, the theme part of THE NAMESAKE touched me most. It makes me to wonder about my root as well as the destination. After the long day, Life seems to be a big paradox.