WELL THE FIRST TIME I SAW THIS MOVIE I THOUGHT IT WAS REALLY NICE AND DIFFERENYT FROM ALOT OF THE CULTURAL INDIAN MOVIES IVE SEEN. THE SECOND TIME I WAS ABIT DISAPOINTED. WITH THAT SAID I WILL SAY I WAS SURPRISED AT HOW KAL PENN TOOK THIS ROLE ON. THERES A SCENE IN THE FILM WHERE HES SMOKIN POT AND I WAS LIKE THERES THE KUMAR I KNO BUT I WAS IMPRESSED AND THOUGHT THE FILM OVR ALL WAS NICE.
An impressive film! Starts off a little slow but evolves into a story wrought with real circumstances and simply displays an example of a life as the son of indian immigrants to America. This film grows on you subtley as the story evolves.
Plot: "The Namesake" is the story of the Ganguli family whose move from Calcutta to New York evokes a lifelong balancing act to meld to a new world without forgetting the old. Although parents Ashoke and As..hima long for the family and culture that enveloped them in India, they take great pride in the opportunities their sacrifices have afforded their children. Paradoxically, their son Gogol is torn between finding his own unique identity without losing his heritage. Even Gogol's name represents the family's journey into the unknown.
Kalpen is remarkable in this movie. He won an Asian Award for his role in this film. If you like Cultural Movies, you should definitely check this out.
a wonderful movie about family, identity, and love. moving story, beautiful music, relatable characters, solid acting, great directing...a terrific deeply heartwarming film for the whole family.
A movie about a boy - a man, who is divided between his indian and american self. It shows two very different cultures and the hard part of fitting those two into one body - and make it all work. The name becomes the symbol of the two persons he is and "The Namesake" for me a symbol of my own struggel between two cultures.
This is an amazing film with a great cast of actors. I fell in love with the story esp. Ashoke and Ashima. Tabu is an amazing actress. The soundtrack is absolutely amazing!!! It blends with the emotion of the film well. Another reason I feel this film is great is because it depicts a struggle with identifying with two cultures. Watch the end credits for the beautiful song by Nitin Sawhney ft. Aqualung "falling" and the beautiful voice of Susheela Raman "The Same Song".
i think i like the book more than the film itself. that's just like what people say. books are usually a lot better than the movies in capturing the characters' deep emotions.
Kal Penn was brillient as Gogal, an Americanised Bengali boy. I just love this Tabu was great too. She's a very talented actress to play Kal Penns Mum even though she is only 7 years older than him. Irfan Khan also played his role well too, showed a lot of emotion to his character.
Based on Jhumpa Lahiri's novel of the same name this movie is about the lives of two generations of Indian immigrants . The story meanders at a slow pace about the cultural difference,identities and tangled ties between the two generations.Impressive performance by Tabu. Quote - To read is to travel without moving an inch.
I am a big fan of the movie "Bend It Like Beckham". This movie was a little slower paced but it went more into detail of the different Indian rites (wedding, funeral, etc). Interesting shots of India as well.
nice wholesome movie... bit too much bad things happening type of deal.. no good news throughout the film. liked the indie feel it had to it, but the guy is just a indian zac braff.. and god knows we only need one of them in the world!
I found this movie, while beautifully acted and emotionally fullfilling, to also battle with its effort to be epic, but settling for meandering. I feel subtlties of emotion and behavior may have been somewhat lost from the novel to the screen and find myself interested in reading the novel to find out. Or maybe I'll just read Gogol's Overcoat instead.
High expectations from the trailer and some of the names attached. There were many fine performances, but it didn't quite hold up to the length -- meandering about for the first 90 minutes or so, and then an excess of plot and change was shoved down my throat in the last little bit.
Very well done. It shows you a look inside a totally different culture, and has love, struggles, torn emotions and strong family ties & loyalty. Have not read the book, so don't know if it follows book or not. But a very enjoyable realistic movie.
No linear plot... no plot at all, really. Moreso a swim through the colour of family and love, responsibilities and desire, and the sacrifices that come with all these things.
I had higher expectations for the film. It was good to watch and reminded me of a close friend but didn't hold up for its length. The veteran Indian actors (Khan, Taby, Guha, etc) provided excellent performances.
This is a very character driven movie. One of the things that may throw people is that through the whole thing we don't know whose story we are supposed to be focusing on. Is it the wayward son? The mother trying to adapt in a strange land? The father trying to hold it all together? It might be all these people. The point of the movie is to see the world through all these eyes and to learn that the world is bigger than we are but not as strong as a family together in it. The whole cast was excellent and played their parts well. Kal Penn was the weakest of the bunch but he still excelled in the role. It's long and slow at parts but the journey is worth it.
Ryan Trotter Movie Review ?The Namesake? The setting of this movie first begins in Calcutta. It show in the beginning flashes of the culture in India. The environment is very peaceful, and beautiful. The story is about a family that lives in New York city. This family?s home land is in India, but they have spent a long time living in New York. From this the cultures are two different worlds. The movie compares the two different cultures by differencing the environments. The two characters are husband and wife, and they have two children. These two children are born and raised in New York. Their reasons for raising their children in Amerca are because ?it is the land of opportunity.? Their names are Gogal and Sonya. With the two children growing up in the United States they are not very familiar with their true culture of Hinduism. The movie is focused on the life of Gogal. Baba his father gave Gogal his name after his favorite author which has great meaning to it. When Gogal grew up in high school he has always wondered about the significance of his name, and the meaning to it. In the religion of Hinduism a child will receive their names from their ancestors, which is a tradition which has great meaning. Gogal grows to be a very smart person, which he has planned to go the University of Yale to be an engineer. In the midst of going off to college, Gogal?s parents take him and his sister on a trip to India. He then figures out that he wants to be an architect. The movie then flashes forward to the future where Gogal has become an architect. Gogal is living his life with a girlfriend. Gogal then visits his parents on the way to a vacation with his girlfriend. Shortly after that Gogal?s father passes away from a heart attack. Gogal returns to his home for the funeral of his dad, which is the Hinduism tradition. Gogal then grieves over his dad and he starts to regret not knowing about his religion. Gogal then chooses for his girlfriend to go home, back to the United States. Not long after this, Gogal falls in love with a girl who is also Hindu. In the religion Hinduism most people marry to the same religion. The name of Nick was questioned by one his wife;s friends. The name Gogal was his response and the people has no understanding of it. He then finds out that his wife is having an affair with him. Gogal then goes back to his home with his mother. He starts to search through boxes that he stored away. He finds a book that his dad gave him before he went to college. This book written by Nicholi Gogal the man he was named after. The book had something written from his father that said ?the man who gave you his name, from the man who gave you your name.? This reflects the story and its plot of the name that he has finally found out what and where it came from. This movie reflects the religion of Hinduism all through it. There are places in the movie that show the traditions, and rituals of Hinduism. The movie also shows how the culture differs from the culture in the United States. There are rituals in the movie that reflect Hinduism and its culture.
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