The Namesake (Film Version)

I already wrote briefly about the book and now it's time to comment on the the movie. I had to return it in a hurry, so I watched in installments over the course of the whole day yesterday. I know, not the best way to enjoy a movie. I guess this effectively prevented the phenomenon I've heard from several people -- that they began to cry at the beginning and didn't stop until the end. I just cried on and off ;-).

Some superficial musings...

Non-TV watcher that I am, I didn't know Kal Penn beforehand, but he was definitely the perfect actor for the part. I had to go check out all the actors here. I was particularly curious to find out whether the actress who portrayed Moushumi was really Indian and my suspicion was correct in a sense because she's just partly so. Hey, I just went there again to check on the actress who portrayed Sonia and I suppose she's Mira Nair's (the director's) daughter! Interesting. I thought that the actress they chose to portray Maxine was perfect.

Let's see what else. I loved the movie, in spite of the fact that I felt that it was much too rushed at times (understandably so, since a novel is much longer) and certain parts didn't tie in as well. E.g. I don't think it was effective to have Ashoke tell Gogol about the accident on that day when they went to pick up ice-cream. Of course it had to be then because this was to be their last conversation, but the timing wasn't very meaningful. The timing of the breakup with Maxine, on the other hand, was great.

I didn't mind the change of cities from Cambridge/Boston to Queens/NYC at all. Mira Nair's idea to treat Calcutta and New York as one city was great and worked really well visually, particularly with the bridges in both places. The change of names from Dimitri to Pierre was just a small detail, but I guess that in the book it's an interesting one because both men's names are Russian. I'm pretty sure that in the book Gogol didn't shave his hair in mourning, but it made for a great visual effect in the film, particularly with the flashbacks of young Gogol and his Baba.

Overall, I think that the feeling I got from the film about the expatriate experience is more positive somehow than the one conveyed in the book. I'm sure I'd have more to say, but you guys will have to excuse me because I'm going out on a rare date with K, courtesy of the in-laws (also rare) presence here today!

P.S. I think this is a film I'd like to own. I really want to watch it with Mira Nair's commentary someday.