The Namesake (film) - Wikipedia The Namesake (film) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to navigation Jump to search For other uses, see Namesake (disambiguation). The Namesake Promotional poster Directed by Mira Nair Produced by Mira Nair Lydia Dean Pilcher Written by Sooni Taraporevala Based on The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri Starring Tabu Irrfan Khan Kal Penn Zuleikha Robinson Jacinda Barrett Sebastian Roché Sahira Nair Ruma Guha Thakurta Sabyasachi Chakrabarty Supriya Devi Music by Nitin Sawhney Cinematography Frederick Elmes Edited by Allyson C. Johnson Production company Mirabai Films UTV Motion Pictures Entertainment Farm Distributed by Fox Searchlight Pictures Release date 2 September 2006 (2006-09-02) (Telluride) 9 March 2007 (2007-03-09) (United States) 23 March 2007 (2007-03-23) (India) Running time 121 minutes[1] Country United States India Language English Bengali Box office $20.14 million[2] The Namesake is a 2006 English language drama film directed by Mira Nair and written by Sooni Taraporevala based on the novel The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri. It stars Tabu, Irrfan Khan, Kal Penn and Sahira Nair. The film was produced by Indian, American and Japanese studios.[3] The film was released in the United States on 9 March 2007, following screenings at film festivals in Toronto and New York City. The Namesake received positive reviews from American critics.[4] Contents 1 Plot 2 Cast 3 Development 4 Soundtrack 5 Critical reception 5.1 Top ten lists 5.2 Awards and nominations 6 See also 7 References 8 External links Plot[edit] The Namesake depicts the struggles of Ashoke and Ashima Ganguli (Irrfan Khan and Tabu), first-generation immigrants from the East Indian state of West Bengal to the United States, and their American-born children Gogol (Kal Penn) and Sonia (Sahira Nair). The film takes place primarily in Kolkata, New York City, and suburbs of New York City. The story begins as Ashoke and Ashima leave Calcutta and settle in New York City. Through a series of miscues, their son's nickname, Gogol (named after Russian author Nikolai Gogol), becomes his official birth name, an event which will shape many aspects of his life. The story chronicles Gogol's cross-cultural experiences [5] and his exploration of his Indian heritage, as the story shifts between the United States and India. Gogol becomes a lazy, pot-smoking teenager indifferent to his cultural background. He resents many of the customs and traditions his family upholds and doesn't understand his parents. After a summer trip to India before starting college at Yale, Gogol starts opening up to his culture and becomes more accepting of it. After college, Gogol uses his "good name" Nikhil (later shortened to Nick). He works as an architect and dates Maxine (Jacinda Barrett), a white woman from a wealthy background, who is clueless about their cultural differences. Gogol falls in love with Maxine and introduces her to his parents, who struggle to understand his modern, American perspectives on dating, marriage and love. They are hesitant and guarded when meeting her. Gogol gets along with Maxine's family and feels closer to them than he does his own family. Before he goes to Ohio for a teaching apprenticeship, Ashoke tells Gogol the story of how he came up with his name. Shortly after, while Gogol is on vacation with Maxine's family, Ashoke dies. Grieving, Gogol tries to be more like what he thinks his parents want him to be and begins following cultural customs more closely. He grows distant from Maxine and eventually breaks up with her. Gogol rekindles a friendship with Moushumi (Zuleikha Robinson), the daughter of family friends. They begin dating and soon after get married. However, the marriage is short-lived as Moushumi, bored with being a wife, starts having an affair with an old boyfriend from Paris. Gogol divorces her, while Ashima blames herself for pressuring Gogol to marry a fellow Bengali. Gogol returns home to help Ashima pack the house when he finds the book Ashoke gave him as a graduation present. Searching for comfort, and accepting his new life alone, Gogol finally reads the stories written by his namesake on the train home. As well as depicting Gogol/Nikhil's experiences, the film describes the courtship and marriage of Ashima and Ashoke, and the effect on the family from Ashoke's early death from a massive heart attack. Through experiencing his father's (Tamal Roy Choudhury) funeral rites on the banks of the Ganges, Gogol begins to appreciate Indian culture. Ashima's decision to move on with her life, selling the suburban family home and returning to Calcutta, unifies and ends the story. Cast[edit] Kal Penn as Nikhil "Gogol" Ganguli Soham Chatterjee as child Gogol aged 4 years Tabu as Ashima Ganguli Irrfan Khan as Ashoke Ganguli Sahira Nair as Sonia Ganguli Jacinda Barrett as Maxine Ratcliffe Sebastian Roché as Chris Linus Roache as Mr Lawson (Gogol's teacher) Glenne Headly as Lydia Zuleikha Robinson as Moushumi Majumdar Ruma Guha Thakurta as Ashoke's mother Sabyasachi Chakrabarty as Ashima's father Supriya Devi as Ashima's grandmother Jagannath Guha as Ghosh Sukanya as Rini Tanushree Shankar as Ashima's mother Tamal Roy Choudhury as Ashoke's father Jhumpa Lahiri as Jhumpa Mashi The film has cameo appearances by actor Samrat Chakrabarti, academic Partha Chatterjee (scholar) and visual artist Naeem Mohaiemen. Development[edit] Initially Rani Mukerji was considered for the principal lead, but due to scheduling conflicts, one role went to Tabu. Kal Penn was recommended to the novel by John Cho and strongly requested by Nair's son, who was a fan of Penn in Harold and Kumar.[6][7] Soundtrack[edit] The soundtrack has varied music: Indian, Anglo-Indian (by Nitin Sawhney, influenced by Ravi Shankar's music for Pather Panchali),[8] and a French piece. One British Indian electronica piece is State of Bengal's "IC408." The ringtone from Moushumi's mobile phone is the song "Riviera Rendezvous" by Ursula 1000 from the album Kinda' Kinky; this is the same song that is played when Gogol and Moushumi first sleep together. The Indian classical pieces (performed on screen by Tabu) were sung by Mitali Banerjee Bhawmik, a New Jersey-based musician. Critical reception[edit] The film received favorable reviews from critics. As of 23 February 2009, the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 86% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 126 reviews.[4] Metacritic reported the film had an average score of 82 out of 100, based on 33 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".[9] Top ten lists[edit] The film appeared on several critics' top ten lists of the best films of 2007.[10] 6th - Peter Rainer, The Christian Science Monitor 8th - Carrie Rickey, The Philadelphia Inquirer 8th - Claudia Puig, USA Today 9th - James Berardinelli, ReelViews Awards and nominations[edit] Won - Love is Folly International Film Festival (Bulgaria) - "Golden Aphrodite" - Mira Nair Nominated - Casting Society of America - "Best Feature Film Casting" - Cindy Tolan Nominated - Gotham Awards 2007 - "Best Film" - Mira Nair & Lydia Dean Pilcher Nominated - Independent Spirit Award - "Best Supporting Male" - Irrfan Khan See also[edit] Nikolai Gogol's "The Overcoat" References[edit] ^ "THE NAMESAKE (12A) - BBFC". BBFC. Retrieved 7 May 2017. ^ The Namesake at Box Office Mojo ^ "The Namesake (2006)". BFI. British Film Institute. Retrieved 3 April 2019. ^ a b "The Namesake - Rotten Tomatoes". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 23 February 2009. ^ "The Namesake (2006) : When Cultures Clash". Movierdo. 15 February 2020. Retrieved 12 July 2020. ^ Pause, Arun Kale, code fixes and updates by Stef. "Nirali Magazine - 21 Things You Didn't Know About The Namesake". niralimagazine.com. ^ "Why Rani, Abhishek lost out on Namesake". Rediff.com Movies. 23 March 2007. ^ Observer Music Monthly March 2007 ^ "Namesake, The (2007): Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 5 January 2008. ^ "Metacritic: 2007 Film Critic Top Ten Lists". Metacritic. Archived from the original on 2 January 2008. Retrieved 5 January 2008. External links[edit] The Namesake on IMDb Official trailer The Namesake at AllMovie The Namesake at Rotten Tomatoes The Namesake at Metacritic The Namesake at Box Office Mojo v t e Films directed by Mira Nair Salaam Bombay! (1988) Mississippi Masala (1991) The Perez Family (1995) Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love (1996) Monsoon Wedding (2001) Hysterical Blindness (2002) Vanity Fair (2004) The Namesake (2006) New York, I Love You (2008) 8 (2008, Segment: How Can It Be?) Amelia (2009) The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2012) Words with Gods (2014) Queen of Katwe (2016) Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Namesake_(film)&oldid=997097086" Categories: 2006 films 2006 drama films Adultery in films American films Indian films American drama films Indian drama films Indian-American films English-language films English-language Indian films Japanese drama films Japanese films Films about immigration to the United States Films based on American novels Films based on Indian novels Films directed by Mira Nair Films set in Kolkata Films set in New York City Films shot in India Films shot in New York City Films shot in Kolkata Fox Searchlight Pictures films UTV Motion Pictures films Foreign films shot in India Asian-American drama films Mirabai Films films Hidden categories: Pages with non-numeric formatnum arguments Use dmy dates from February 2020 Template film date with 3 release dates Navigation menu Personal tools Not logged in Talk Contributions Create account Log in Namespaces Article Talk Variants Views Read Edit View history More Search Navigation Main page Contents Current events Random article About Wikipedia Contact us Donate Contribute Help Learn to edit Community portal Recent changes Upload file Tools What links here Related changes Upload file Special pages Permanent link Page information Cite this page Wikidata item Print/export Download as PDF Printable version Languages العربية অসমীয়া Чӑвашла Deutsch Español فارسی Français हिन्दी Bahasa Indonesia Italiano Bahasa Melayu नेपाल भाषा 日本語 Polski Русский Suomi தமிழ் తెలుగు Vepsän kel’ Edit links This page was last edited on 30 December 2020, at 00:18 (UTC). Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization. Privacy policy About Wikipedia Disclaimers Contact Wikipedia Mobile view Developers Statistics Cookie statement