The Namesake - a review

The Namesake

Coma to Heart-Attack scale: Normal Blood Pressure (7/10)

The movie is based on Jhumpa Lahiri's book The Namesake. Since I have not read the book I will stick to the story of the movie for the review.

I thought this movie to be a satisfying blend of various common themes such as:

1) The emotional issues which arise when one is uprooted from their homeland.
2) The clash of Western and Eastern civilisations and thought processes.
3) The problems with relationships especially those involving people from different cultures.
4) Issues of identity crisis.

These themes have been explored together and individually with a great deal of success, in many movies before The Namesake (e.g. American Desi, Bombay Boys, The Guru etc.).

What makes The Namesake a bit different is the fact that the story spans a lifetime and we see the characters grow and evolve as the movie progresses. Even though the growth process is often in 'fast-forward' mode where months and years have elapsed between two consecutive scenes.

In my opinion the movie could have been made more continuous. Lots of scenes seem quite unnecessary especially the love making scenes. They don't add anything to the movie especially when they are cut up by the Censor Board.

I also think that all the airport scenes (in the US) were shot on the same day! The displays at the airport remain the same when the Ganguli family is flying to India and years later (as per the story) when Gogol arrives with a shaved head.

There are several such mistakes in the movie which is shocking since Mira Nair is known for her professional approach to movie-making.

Also I was disappointed with the soundtrack. It was quite boring unlike her earlier movies (e.g. Monsoon Wedding).

I also would have liked to see Gogol's younger sister play a bigger part in the movie. She disappears somewhere into the background as the movie progresses.

We just get snippets of information regarding her life such as 'she is in California' or 'she is with a decent guy named Ben'.
Maybe the script writer could have used their creative abilities and compared the reaction of Gogol and his sister to the various issues that arise in their lives?
Would have been interesting to see how the response differs (if at all it does).

Irrfan and Tabu have acted well.
But again while the movie embraces you and puts you in a comfort zone as you see these characters go through life, there seems to be something missing.
Maybe the continuity factor?