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March 23, 2007 > Arts & Entertainment > New Hollywood cannot live up to old Bollywood in The Namesake

New Hollywood cannot live up to old Bollywood in The Namesake

By Tasha Chemplavil | Thresher Editorial Staff

Based on Pulitzer Prize winner Jhumpa Lahiri’s novel of the same name, The Namesake follows the members of the Ganguli family as they attempt to balance their Indian heritage with an American way of life.

The film shows the struggles of two generations of the Ganguli family: Ashoke (The Killer’s Irfan Khan), his wife Ashima (Shock’s Tabu) and their son Gogol (Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle’s Kal Penn).

Choosing to experience the world through books rather than actual traveling, Ashoke is quite happy in his native India. That is, until a near-fatal train accident makes him reevaluate his thinking. The film’s title comes from how Ashoke managed to survive his traumatic train crash. As he lay almost completely immobile in the accident’s wreckage, he clutched a page of the book he had been reading on the train. The flutter of paper caught the eye of a rescue worker who would have otherwise overlooked Ashoke’s battered body. The book was The Overcoat by Nikolai Gogol. Thus, Ashoke named his son after the man who essentially saved his life. With the line, “We all came from Gogol’s overcoat,” Ashoke reminds the audience — and his son — about how experiences shape lives and how important family is.

After his arranged marriage with Ashima, the two settle in a New York suburb to build their family. Ashima longs for India, while Ashoke revels in the possibilities of the American dream. Gogol is just an American kid doing his best to blend in with the rest of his generation.

Director Mira Nair (Monsoon Wedding) has a history of making movies that portray the lifestyles of Indians and Indian-Americans. Not only do her own experiences in India and the United States give her a unique insight into her films, but she manages to turn her characters into real people. Her ability to make culture-centric problems universal and entertaining makes her the perfect person to direct the mostly Indian cast of The Namesake.

The Namesake is well-written and genuinely entertaining. The film has something for everyone. Although the Gangulis are South Asian, their story crosses cultural borders and bridges generational gaps. The Namesake can be watched as easily with a friend as with a father. It is so easy to see one’s own family in the Gangulis.

Amazing performances from Khan and Tabu turn what could have been a heavy-handed film about the assimilation struggles of immigrants into a moving depiction of one family’s attempt to preserve its cultural values. The Bollywood veterans know how to act their hearts out without letting the effort show on screen.

As for Penn, he could learn a thing or two from his movie parents. Gogol is a typical first-generation Indian-American kid. He superficially rebels against his parents, but ultimately complies with their wishes. It is almost the dramatic version of Penn’s Kumar in Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle. But as the fast-talking, destined-to-be-a-doctor Kumar, Penn was charming, comfortable with poking fun at himself and Indian-American stereotypes. In The Namesake, he tries too hard to be serious. In especially dramatic scenes, Penn overacts. For example, when he discovers his wife’s secret he puts on his “angry face” — narrowed eyes, furrowed brow, downturned mouth. It’s as if he learned how to act from watching Sesame Street’s Bert. Rather than become Gogol, Penn acts like Gogol. He has got a long way to go before he makes audiences forget flops such as Epic Movie and Van Wilder 2: The Rise of Taj.

If a Penn-chant for Kal is your reason for seeing The Namesake, save your money. The acting chops that were in full force in Harold and Kumar are nowhere to be seen in this movie. But for an honest portrayal of cross-cultural differences and some phenomenal old school acting to boot, The Namesake hits the spot like a cold mango lassi on a hot summer day. Go see it. You won’t be sari.

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