I saw the movie twice. I liked the book better than the movie. The book had some anecdotes that touched my heart like Ashima leaving behind the paints and the brushes she bought for her father on the subway after her father died. Tabu could not portray the character of Ashima, a quintessentially Bengali housewife, for Tabu's lacked the softness which is so typical of a Bengali woman and her accent was horrible. . Irfan Khan was ok nothing extraordinary and at times his accent sounded peculiar not quite Bengali. Kal Penn was brilliant. I could see the typical American Indian in him confused and tied up between two sets of values and culture.
Ritu
Canada