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List Price: $14.98 | | Label: 20th Century Fox
Salesrank: 5712
Released: November 27, 2007 |
| Our Price: $4.48 |
| Used Price: $1.48 |
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MPAA Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
~Actors: Irfan Khan, Kal Penn, Jagannath Guha, Ruma Guha Thakurta, Tabu, See more
~Directors: Mira Nair
~Rating PG-13
The Namesake is the story of the Ganguli family whose move from Calcutta to New York evokes a lifelong balancing act to meld to a new world without forgetting the old. Though parents Ashok (Irfan Khan) and Ashima (Tabu) long for family and culture that enveloped them in India, they take great pride in the opportunities their sacrifices have afforded their children.
Paradoxically, their son Gogol (Kal Penn) is torn between finding his own unique identity without loosing his heritage. Even Gogol's name represents the family's journey into the unknown.
Description of The Namesake:
Adapted by screenwriter Sooni Taraporevala from the novel by Jhumpa Lahiri, director Mira Nair's The Nameksake is populated by well-drawn characters and filled with memorable shots and engaging scenes. But in the larger sense, the film is a provocative look at the two sides of immigration: the adjustments faced by a couple who move here from a distant land, and the struggles of their offspring to reconcile their parents' traditional culture with their own distinctly American outlook. The tale begins in the late '70s, when aspiring engineer Ashoke Ganguli (Irfan Khan) and his new wife Ashima (the radiant Tabu) move to New York from Calcutta. Life in America is strange, in ways both good (the gas in their apartment stays on 24 hours a day! You can drink water straight from the tap!) and not-so-hot (New York's winters). But for their children, first son Gogol (a standout performance by Kal Penn, heretofore best known for the stoner comedy Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle), nicknamed for his father's favorite author, the Russian novelist Nikolai Gogol, and then daughter Sonia (Sahira Nair), "the American way" is at odds with their folks' more conservative mores. Gogol (who later adopts his more formal first name, Nikhil) smokes dope, calls his parents "you guys," goes to Yale, and hooks up with a preppie white girl (Jacinda Barrett); for her part, Sonia complains that she wants to "go home" when the family returns to India for a visit. Only when tragedy strikes suddenly does the young man realize how totally alienated from his family he has become, prompting some major changes. There's nothing especially original about any of this, and even those who haven't read the book may sense that some of Lahiri's material has been lost on the way to the screen (the treatment of Gogol's marriage to a beautiful Bengali-American girl, played by Zuleikha Robinson, seems oddly truncated). But even while dealing with life's Big Issues (birth and death, marriage and separation, joy and misery), Nair has created a winning, intimate film that reminds us of the strength of family ties and effortlessly persuades us to care. --Sam Graham
Kal Penn Blogs About The Namesake
Welcome to The Namesake DVD. After touring the festival circuit last year, our film opened globally (including North America) in March of this year, and I’m proud to bring you the DVD!
This is a project that has been close to me from the beginning. I was a big fan of the book ever since John Cho recommended it to me during the first Harold & Kumar shoot. John and I tried to get rights to turn the book into the film, but Mira [Nair, director of Monsoon Wedding and Salaam Bombay] had already acquired them. That began a really aggressive campaign on my part to try to get seen for the role. I’d call Mira’s office, have my manager call – but we had no luck in getting in the door. Luckily, unbeknownst to me, Mira’s son Zohran and her agent’s son Sam were lobbying on my behalf (turns out they are huge Harold and Kumar fans, so they were trying to get their parents to bring me in to read for the part of Gogol). Mira finally agreed, and I got a call saying that I’d be able to audition. I flew out to New York, and luckily things worked out.
There are some similarities between my life and Gogol’s. We are both Americans of Indian descent, both born and raised on the East Coast, both bilingual, and both passionate about our careers. But Gogol is much more subdued than I am; he carries a certain silence (which he gets from his father). His place in the world is one of constant shift -- a byproduct of being single in New York, being passionate about his job, close with his family, and so on.
This film is my favorite to -date. Mira has been a role model of mine since I was very young, Jhumpa [Lahiri, author of The Namesake] is one of my favorite authors, Sooni [Taraporevala, screenwriter for Salaam Bombay] one of my most admired screenwriters, so it’s an honor to have the chance to be part of the screen adaptation of this story.
To me, it’s a very American film. It’s about family, about hope – about how we all got here, through the lens of this particular family. With so much negativity every time I turn on the television, I’m proud to be part of something that hopefully leaves the audience with a tremendous amount of hope, and a connection to the people we love. -- Kal Penn
The Namesake Reviews:
Subtitle 
2009-11-03 - The subtitles do not match what the actors are actually saying. I would like to return this DVD. Please advise
Namesake Review for Religion 110 
2009-09-21 - The movie I choose to review this week was "The Namesake" it is about a man that looses his father in a train wreck and is only alive because of a book called Gogol. This book inspires people to see the world because life is too short. Mr.Ganguli is of Indian decent and their culture over in India. Their culture believes that you should marry within your own race and also there is no kind of physical contact until marriage. Mr.Ganguli and his family move to the United States and have a son named that they name Gogol Ganguil he does not really accept some of the things that his family believes in and is quite rebellious in the beginning .He asked his family could he change is name because he gets picked on at school he changes it to Nickoli Ganguli, He dates a woman outside of their race named Maxine that tries to fit in with his family. To me it seems that through this relationship he tries to live another life and forget about his heritage that is until his father dies of a massive heart attack. Nikoli then starts to rethink his life all of the bad choices he has made and shaves his head in honor of his father because this was part of a family tradition when someone dies. He marries a long time family friend that has the same family background as him she ends up cheating on him because she feel see can't deal with all the values Nikoli decides to be like his father and travel the world because that's what is father always wanted to do and he finally excepted the name that was given to him at birth because he know knew what it stood for. In all it was a great movie but at times it can make you sad but it does shed light on the Indianan culture.
The Namesake 
2009-09-21 - The movie "The Namesake" was a wonderful film about an Indian husband and wife who migrated to America to start their family. The story begins in Calcutta India with Ashima and Ashoke Ganguli getting married. Shortly there after, they move to New York City. A few months later they have their first child, a son named Gogol Ganguli. He was named after his father's favorite author Nikolai Gogol. This fact will play a major role in the rest of Gogol's life. The family grows as they gain a daughter by the name of Sonali Ganguli. The story continues as the children grow up and graduate from high school. The summer before Gogol leaves to go to Yale University, he travels with his family to India to meet his relatives. While in India Gogol and his family travel to the Taj Mahal where Gogol is inspired to become an architect. After graduation from Yale, Gogol meets and falls in love with a young American artist named Maxine Ratliffe. However, after Gogol's father dies suddenly due to a heart attack, Gogol and Maxine go their separate ways due to there cultural differences. Not long after this ,Gogol meets and marries an Indian girl he knew from childhood. Her names is Moushumi Mazoomdar, and although they are married and seem to be happy, it is not long before she starts having an affair with an old boyfriend and their relationship also ends. The movie ends after this with Gogols mother returning to India and Gogol setting off to travel the world.
The Movie "The Namesake" also has many important references to traditional Indian culture such as the traditional dress of the Indian woman known as the "sari". The movie shows Indian weddings, as well as Indian funerals in great detail. In this movie is also apparent that in India the parents seem to have a lot to say in who their children marry. However, throughout the movie it is apparent that the Ganguli family in America do their best to mix the two cultures to get the best of both worlds.
Must see Movie
2009-08-21 - It is a reflection of our past, present and future. It is not easy to shift base from one culture to other. There are constant challenges and fear. The movie captured all the events in life and dramatized well. "The Namesake" is a beautiful and heartfelt work overflowing with wisdom and universal appeal.
moving look at the immigrant experience
2009-07-29 - Based on the novel by Jhumpa Lahiri , "The Namesake" is a moving and thoughtful tale of two generations of Bengalese living in the United States.
The movie begins in India in 1977 with the arranged marriage between the sheltered Ashima (Tabu) and a young college professor named Ashoke (Irrfan Khan) who lives and works in New York City. The film chronicles their early years as a couple, the births of their son and daughter, and the eventual maturing of those children into highly Americanized young adults. The issue of arranged marriage - or at least the avoidance of a mixed marriage - inevitably comes to the fore as the young man, Gogol ("Harold and Kumar"'s Kal Penn), falls in love with a beautiful blonde artist he brings home to meet his parents.
With tenderness and sensitivity, "The Namesake" illuminates a dilemma that all immigrants must one day face: how to assimilate oneself into the adopted culture while, at the same time, remaining faithful to one's roots. The movie astutely captures the tension that develops between parents and their offspring when first-generation youngsters have no affection for - or even interest in - the Old World customs.
But this is more than just your typical multi-cultural generation-gap drama; it is an intensely moving look at personal identity, at marital and filial relationships, and at the deep and abiding bond that is family. For, in the end, Gogol learns that he must embrace both sides of his heritage if he is to have any hope of discovering the person he truly is.
But personal growth is not limited solely to the younger generation, for the adults are forced to accept the fact that traditionalism comes with its own limitations and drawbacks as well.
The movie is bolstered by beautiful performances - most notably by Tabu and Khan as the two parents - and by lyrical and sensitive direction by Mira Nair, most renowned in this country for "Salaam Bombay," "Mississippi Masala," and "Monsoon Wedding."
With little fuss or fanfare, "The Namesake" manages to tell an epic story while remaining intimate in scope and specific in detail. The screenplay by Sooni Taraporevala constantly shifts its point-of-view, so that different characters become the "protagonist" at various points in the story. The result is a richly observed and fully rounded perspective on the events that unfold.
"The Namesake" is a beautiful and heartfelt work overflowing with wisdom and universal appeal.
