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| The Namesake | 
| Director: Mira Nair
Actors: Irfan Khan, Kal Penn, Jagannath Guha, Ruma Guha Thakurta, Tabu
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Category: DVD
List Price: $19.98
Buy Used: $1.99
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Avg. Customer Rating:  74 reviews
Sales Rank: 2406
Format: Ac-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, Dvd-video, Subtitled, Widescreen, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), French (Original Language), Hindi (Original Language), English (Subtitled), French (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), Spanish (Dubbed)
Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Running Time: 122 minutes
Number Of Items: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.3 x 0.6
MPN: 2245608
UPC: 024543456087
EAN: 0024543456087
ASIN: B000U2U0E4
Theatrical Release Date: March 9, 2007
Release Date: November 27, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
American-born Gogol the son of Indian immigrants wants to fit in among his fellow New Yorkers despite his family's unwillingness to let go of their traditional ways. System Requirements:Running Time: 114 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA/AMERICANS ABROAD Rating: PG-13 UPC: 024543456087 Manufacturer No: 2245608
Amazon.com
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
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| Customer Reviews: Read 69 more reviews...
 Beautiful Story, Delightful Movie September 4, 2008
So many movies today follow the predictable cookie-cutter mold, it's refreshing to see a movie like The Namesake that stands apart from the bland/dumb humor/little plot productions.
The Namesake explores the life of an immigrant family in the 1970's U.S. Ashoke and Ashima are a young Indian couple living in New York, adjusting to their new life, and walking the line between a traditional Indian lifestyle and their new American one. The characters deal with raising children in a new culture, sickness, death, love, betrayal, loneliness, etc. Although The Namesake has its joyful moments, I think its focus is on the struggles and the hard decisions that go into living in a foreign country; parents making the sacrifice of leaving their home for the sake of their children, and watching their children absorb the foreign culture and grow up into people they no longer understand.
The Namesake has it all - touching story, superb performances by the whole cast, beautiful cinematography.
 Story about finding one's own cultural identity August 11, 2008
I loved writer Jhumpa Lahiri's book "Interpreter of Maladies". Althought I have not read "Namesake" , I knew I wanted to see the film. I imagined from her previous work colorful characters, clothes and surroundings and sure enough, I was not disappointed. We meet a young man of Indian descent who is named Gogol, after famous Russian writer. That name seems to be a torment in his life, until one day he decides to change it, americanize it and convert even his Indian name Nikhil to Nick. Born and raised in the America to his Indian parents, he has difficulty trying to identify with his Indian ancestry. So, his girlfriend is blond American girl from a higher social status and we see Nick slowly pulling away from his family. It is only thru his father's death that Nick realizes who he is, what heritage really means to his family and him personally. Inevitably, that means the end of his life that until that moment he has known. And then again, it is Nick's marriage to Bengali woman he has known since his childhood that creates new conflicts in his life. Are the pressures of one's heritage such that one has to deny his/her true feelings toward a person of a different heritage? How much is the modern life on the western hemisphere influenced new generations in the ways they want to live their lives? I absolutely loved film's tenderness and its slow rhytm. I felt drawn to the characters and curious about their inner life. But then the best part of all is the film's ending that simply states "To our parents who sacrificed everything to give us what we have". That statement alone transcends this story from the begining to the end regardless of what culture we come from or are born into.
Why must I have the name of a lonely depressed suicidal writer that nobody knows? August 10, 2008
23 out of 23 found this review helpful
Another nice little movie by Mira Nair, based on a nice little novel, which was surprisingly successful in the US, about a Bengali immigrant family somewhere on the NE coast.
Everything is normal about the story: the marriage arranged by the parents, the small family life somewhere N of NY, the teaching career of the husband, an optical fibres scientist; the growth of the family: first a boy, then a girl; the death of parents at home in Calcutta; growing middle class wealth, kids growing up and alienating; mother with part time job in library and terribly lonely away from family and the real home. The new home never feels home. For the kids, the old home never feels home.
The title refers to a train accident that the father survived in India, before he went to the US and before he got married. He is reading the 'Overcoat' in a collected Gogol volume, when the crash happens. This leads later to the name Gogol for the baby boy, meant as a temporary one until the decision from Calcutta arrives, but it sticks. The boy first overrules his parents' wish to officialize Nikhil, as at that time he doesn't want to be Nicky, but keeps Gogol. Later, when fashions have changed, he has become the young architect called Nick, while the parents have switched to calling him Gogol rather than Nikhil.
Nothing dramatic outside the ordinary lives of immigrant families. A very nice movie, as usual from this director.
By the way, when Nabokov had immigrated to the US, one of his first English books was a monography on Gogol, not quite a biography. Must read it again and review it.
Out of this World Exemplary!!!! August 5, 2008
I was really impressed with Kal Penn's performance and in addition, the story line and the recurring theme of the picture. Well Done to the author and I'm looking forward to buying this book.
A beautiful story July 31, 2008
Namesake is a wonderful tale about starting a new section of your life in a different country and how with each new generation the culture of the family can change. It shows the importance of family.
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