Namesake….whose?

Mira Nair has provided a very lopsided view of the Bengali Psyche in Jhumpa Lahiri's Namesake. Namesake is the story of the tribulations, the conflicts and the dilemma of Ashoke & Ashima Ganguli, uprooted from their familiar Kolkata and displaced in an alien world. Nair has failed to see through Ashima and Ashoke's sentiments and emotions and in the process made a caricature of the Bengali trying hard to establish his identity in a world totally different, in adept at understanding traditional values. Irfan Khan as Ashoke Ganguli has done an excellent job and seems to be a perfect choice. He has very successfully portrayed the Bengali inflections while speaking English. Kal Penn as Gogol could not have been better. But Tabbu's Ashima was an absolute failure especially in the first half of the film. She lacked the softness, combined with the forthright, quintessential quality of the middle class Bengali intellectual. Nevertheless Tabbu proved her skill as a powerful actress in the 2nd half of the film. Probably it was Nair's obsession in presenting Kolkata her squalor, her crowds her multifaceted milieu and the essentially Bengali wit in the common man could not do justice to Lahiri's novel which stands in a class apart. The nitty gritties of a matured man -woman relationship could have been explored in a more subtle manner and this is where the film lacks in finesse.
Thus the film failed to project how the immigrant Bengali has adjusted with the American and carved a niche for himself in the Intellectual world. It seemed as if the Bengalis are only concerned about establishing their Bengali culture and that they have no other concern as conscientious individuals committed to society.

Sharmistha Chaudhuri
39 Southend Park
Calcutta 700029
West Bengal, India

Namesake….whose?

Mira Nair has provided a very lopsided view of the Bengali Psyche in Jhumpa Lahiri's Namesake. Namesake is the story of the tribulations, the conflicts and the dilemma of Ashoke & Ashima Ganguli, uprooted from their familiar Kolkata and displaced in an alien world. Nair has failed to see through Ashima and Ashoke's sentiments and emotions and in the process made a caricature of the Bengali trying hard to establish his identity in a world totally different, in adept at understanding traditional values. Irfan Khan as Ashoke Ganguli has done an excellent job and seems to be a perfect choice. He has very successfully portrayed the Bengali inflections while speaking English. Kal Penn as Gogol could not have been better. But Tabbu's Ashima was an absolute failure especially in the first half of the film. She lacked the softness, combined with the forthright, quintessential quality of the middle class Bengali intellectual. Nevertheless Tabbu proved her skill as a powerful actress in the 2nd half of the film. Probably it was Nair's obsession in presenting Kolkata her squalor, her crowds her multifaceted milieu and the essentially Bengali wit in the common man could not do justice to Lahiri's novel which stands in a class apart. The nitty gritties of a matured man -woman relationship could have been explored in a more subtle manner and this is where the film lacks in finesse.
Thus the film failed to project how the immigrant Bengali has adjusted with the American and carved a niche for himself in the Intellectual world. It seemed as if the Bengalis are only concerned about establishing their Bengali culture and that they have no other concern as conscientious individuals committed to society.

Sharmistha Chaudhuri
39 Southend Park
Calcutta 700029
West Bengal, India