[ March 9, 2007 UPDATE: See SAJAforum Review Roundup of the movie ]
I have marked Friday, March 9, 2007, on my calendar and suggest each of you in the U.S. do the same. It's going to be landmark day in desi arts. To learn why, read on.
Last night, Nov. 1, at Lincoln Square Cinemas in Manhattan, "The Namesake" made its NYC debut at Aroon Shivdasani's Indo-American Arts Council Film Festival. It was a start-studded evening, with Salman Rushdie and Padma Lakshmi hosting the movie as assorted other celebrities - Mira Nair, who directed the movie; Kal Penn, who starred in it; Booker winner Kiran Desai; Sabrina Dhawan, screenwriter of "Monsoon Wedding," among others - joined a crowd of eager (mostly desi) New Yorkers for the gala screening. I attended with my wife, mother and father - and am so glad I did. The movie (based on Jhumpa Lahiri's novel and written by Sooni Taraporewala) is simply wonderful. I had high expectations, thanks to the terrific novel. The acting is outstanding among the three main actors: Irrfan Khan, Tabu and Penn (in the title role, as Gogol, he is given a chance to show us his talents well beyond "Harold & Kumar Go To Whiletcastle").
SAJAer Aseem Chhabra, whose review of the film at the Telluride festival - "Namesake Will Make You Cry" - also raised my expectations. Watching the movie with my family was especially appropriate as it deals with so many things that have affected mine and countless other families: immigration, death, foreign travel, separation and much more. We talked about the movie in the cab home, over dinner and early this morning - few movies ever cause this much discussion. Aseem was right, by the way, I did cry, at two points.
Unfortunately, it doesn't open in US theaters till March 9, 2007. I plan to encourage everyone I know - desi and non-desi - to watch the movie when it comes out.
[In Aseem's review, he quotes Nair describing Tabu, the heroine, as "India's Meryl Streep" and that got me thinking of some of Streep's biggest roles, including her haunting, Oscar-winning turn in "Sophie's Choice" and how apt the description is. Imagine my surprise, then to see in this morning's New York Times that William Styron, author of "Sophie's Choice" has died yesterday.]
Resources:
- More on the movie here (IMDB) and here (Mirabai Films, Nair's company)
- See the trailer
- More on the book here (Amazon)
- More on Nikolai Gogol, the namesake of the title and a hero of the movie and book (Wikipedia)
- More items about "The Namesake" NY debut here (essay by Arthur Pais and photos) and here (Pais on the nudity in the film) and here (Pais on the festival) and here (Pais on more of the movie) and here (T.P. Sreenivasan, my father, on the movie)
- Kamla Bhatt's podcast on the movie (interview with Mira Nair)
- Other films at the IAAC Film Festival
[ March 9, 2007 UPDATE: See SAJAforum Review Roundup of the movie ]
Share your thoughts on the movie or book or Gogol or the coverage by posting a comment below.
[ POSTED BY SREE SREENIVASAN ]
