On the face of it, nothing can be easier than making a film on Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Namesake. You’re assured of humanely observed characters, finely nuanced relationships and a sharply felt cross-cultural interaction—where disparate cultures don’t clash rabidly but amalgamate with dignity. But it can also be an extremely difficult book for a filmmaker to handle. How do you translate her writing—fulsome in its descriptions, acute in its observations but intensely intimate and subdued—to the screen? How do you replace the measured narration with meaningful images? Meera Nair manages it rather well. In the book vs film debate, my vote goes to the book but the film too holds its own.
Sooni Taraporevala’s script sticks pretty much to the spirit of the book even while it is not entirely faithful to it. In the book, Ashoke (Irrfan) leaves Calcutta with new bride Ashima (Tabu) to make Boston his home. In the film, he sets base in New York. Ashima is made a singer, which only helps in adding to the great range in Nitin Sawhney’s background score—Rabindra Sangeet to hip hop to a delightful remix of Mukesh’s Yeh mera deewanapan hai ya mohabbat ka suroor. Many scenes are not in the book. Similarly, the film does away with a lot of languid detailing which makes the narration seem crammed. The film stops just a little short of the overwhelming emotional impact of the book, it stirs you though not as deeply.
Like the book, the film is non-judgemental about the characters and their relationships; there is no effort to apportion blame on anyone when things go wrong. Some of Jhumpa’s nice lines are retained as full-blown dialogue. Kal Penn is in fine form as Gogol, caught between two cultures, saddled with a name from a third. Tabu and Irrfan are a little awkward, halting and held back, which works well in the context of the characters they play initially—unsure of themselves in an alien land, a land in which they grow to love each other and share happiness and disappointments. There are bound to be quibbles about whether they get their Bengali right or whether Nair captures the culture and ethos. But it still can’t take much away from this humane, warm and elegantly crafted film.
High Fives
Bollywood
1. Hattrick
2. Honeymoon Travels Pvt Ltd
3. Just Married
4. Red
5. Nishabd
Hollywood
1. 300
2. Wild Hogs
3. Premonition
4. Dead Silence
5. I Think I Love my Wife
Latino
1. La Historia Continua... (Manco Solis)
2. La Historia...Lo Mas (Los Caminantes)
3. Lobo Domesticado (Valentin Elizalde)
4. Vencedor (Valentin Elizalde)
5. K.O.B.: Live (Aventura)
Courtesy: Film Information
