The Namesake [2006]
Director: Mira Nair
Actor: Irfan Khan, Kal Penn, Tabu
Gogol is the son of Indian parents who immigrated to the United States when they were just married. He wants to fit in with people around him, but it doesn’t always seem to happen as easily as one would want it to be. His name, Gogol, after the Russian author Nikolai Gogol, seems to be the embodiment of that difficulty to fit in. His name invokes jokes and jest from his peers, and slowly but surely he starts to resent his father for giving him the name. Of course, the name holds a very special significance to his father, and it causes a rift between Gogol and the rest of his family.
This is a coming of age tale that’s probably very familiar amongst Indian immigrants in the United States and will strike a chord with them. I thought the film was well-shot, but badly cut, and the story kind of roams and strays off course a bit. The acting is solid, however, and not so exaggerated as Bollywood films. It’s also more risqué than the standard Bollywood film. It’s more of a straight-to-video type of film, but one that’s not to be overlooked, especially when you get tired of Michael Bay films. :)
