The Namesake (2006)

Starring: Irrfan Khan, Jagannath Guha, Ruma Guha Thakurta, Tabu, Sandib Deb, Sukanya, Tanushree Shankar

First, The Lowdown: An American-born son of Indian immigrants is divided between the culture of his country of birth and the traditions of his parents.

A train cuts across the Indian countryside. Inside a young man, Ashoke, wants nothing more than to read his book, Nikolai Gogol's The Overcoat – but an older man sharing his cabin on the train keeps talking to him. While the senior man extols the virtues of travel, the train derails – putting Ashoke in the hospital.

Ashoke recovers quickly. Quickly enough to meet the fiancée his parents have arranged for his to marry – Ashima. Ashoke is studying engineering in New York City, and after the couple marry, he takes her overseas to live with him. Life in New York is vastly different than India, however – the winters are harsh and cold, the sky seems perpetually gray, and while America has many technological wonders, everything is so confusing.

Soon after the pair have a son, who the initially name Gogol, a family nickname that will traditionally be changed when the child is older. As Gogol grows up, however, he becomes more attached to his name that when he begins to attend school, he refuses to go by the official name his parents have settled on, Nikhil. This would become a decision that Gogol would later regret when he grows to be a teenager named “Gogol Ganguli.” Gogol is even more upset when he finds out that the Russian author that he got his namesake from would later starve himself to death.

A quick trip to the homeland, however divides Gogol's relationship with his ancestral country feeling completely disconnected outside of America. But a visit to the Taj Mahal would give him a new goal – to study architecture. After he graduates, Gogol stops using his nickname and starts going by Nikhil.

In college, Gogol falls in love with Maxine – a loving Caucasian with open-minded parents. For all of her liberalness, Maxine still is unsure how to act in front of Gogol's parents. (For example, Gogol warns her about the Indian taboo of displaying open affection, but Maxine can't resist kissing Gogol's mother on the cheek when she says goodbye.) College away from his home has given Gogol freedom from the traditional ties that he felt burdened by as a child and more and more he distances himself from his parents. When his father dies, Gogol realizes that no matter how much space he puts between himself and his family, there is no escaping the fact that he is Indian.

Jhumpa Lahiri's The Namesake takes much of it's drama and humor from a subject she frequently visits in her writing: cultural dissonance. First with Ashima's indoctrination into American living (overinterpreting the “rice” in Rice Krispies, Ashima puts chili powder on them.) And with then Gogol's assimilation as a native-born American with Indian parents. (Lahiri's characters frequently have to deal with being the “Indian” person, even though they were born in Britain or America – to Indian parents).

Even more so is the message that as while they would prefer their children to hold to the traditions their parents grew up with, it is more important for Ashoke and Ashimi that their children feel adjusted in America. Gogol's earlier rebellion against his parents upbringing is met with a sigh of disappointed resignation instead of an angry row. Gogol even later finds out that his desire to respect his parent's traditions is not necessarily shared with other foreign-born people of Indian ancestry.

Line of the Movie: “You remind me of everything that followed. Everyday since then has been a gift.”

Four and a half stars. I do the rock.