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?

Is a CAR more dangerous than ALCOHOL?

Alcohol (in India atleast) is considered to be quite bad. If you admit that you consume alcohol regularly you are sure to be looked down upon by most sections of society. One cannot advertise alcohol. People think that husbands waste money on alcohol instead of spending on family welfare.

I wonder if anyone has carried out any studies comparing number of broken marriages (or 'bad' marriages) where the main cause of failure is alcoholism with the total number of people who consume alcohol. Or even compared this with the total number of failed (or failing marriages).

Alcohol at the end of a long day is often the one thing that gets rid of the stress so that you can behave in a human like fashion.

While EXCESS of ANYTHING is bad, alcohol, if consumed in the right quantity, provides a release.

Many times it helps you to think clearly. To cut through the fog and concentrate on core issues.

Sometimes it prevents you from thinking TOO much.

So alcohol is not all bad.

If we ban alcohol from being advertised, maybe we should ban car advertisements as well!
After all I am sure cars kill more people than alcohol. More women are made widows and children orphaned because of rash driving. A drunk person is dangerous only to themselves. But a drunk person BEHIND the wheel of a CAR is a danger to anyone on the road.

All this and are not even getting into the pollution aspect of cars and how the global weather is changing!

So is a CAR more dangerous than ALCOHOL?

IF YES then why are you allowed to advertise cars and not alcohol.
Why is driving big cars not 'looked down upon' like consuming alcohol?
After all a big car can cause greater injury to a person, pollute the environment even more and consume more resources!

IF NO then someone needs to prove alcohol kills more people and causes greater harm than CARS.
Don't forget to send me a copy of the report!

Just because we need a car for our daily life we don't mind living with the heavy cost of life. Nobody says 'hey lets walk to the shops rather
In the end it just comes down to one simple fact: If I want something badly enough then who gives a damn about the cost!

This in turn highlights the attitude of convenience that we, as members of the human race, have adopted towards things around us.

It is convenient to ban alcohol ads since it might encourage people to drink, in any case how many people drink, but not automobile ads with all kinds of fancy stunts (which might encourage a kid to start driving and try those stunts, before reaching the legal age).