The Namesake

 Namesake
It is a Movie Directed by Meera Nair

I liked her Monsoon Wedding and her easy way of narrative direction.

And Namesake, the first novel by Jhumpa Lahri, which told the sorrows and pains of Ashima, a domiciled woman character in a unknown, friendless cold land away from her known culture and everything. I saw the movie in the same perspective, what I faced when I came to Bombay 40 years ago.

Her Husband Ashoke Ganguli, though understanding and loving could not create the same atmosphere of homeland for her. But, Ashima(Another fine portrayal of character from Taboo) learned to adjust into American Indian Culture. Though, She Always longed for her homeland.

Her son, Gogol, named after the famous Russian author, could not understand why there are two sets of name of any Bengali.  He rebelled against the fusion of two cultures, Bengali at home and American out side. 

His father brilliantly acted by Irfan Khan, explains to him the culture of Bengal, homeland to his son. It removed some bitterness between the two. Gogol finds himself eventually drawn back to both his parents and the Indian rather Bengali  traditions he has neglected.

Despite all the tensions in the Ganguli household, “The Namesake” expresses a reassuring faith in family solidarity. Avoiding the cliché of pitting disobedient immigrant children in pitched battles against tradition-bound parents from the old country, the film assumes that blood ties are the strongest bonds holding together the social order.

A must see for all those, who are living away fro their homeland, bringing up / brought up their children fusing two types of cultures and traditions.