Watching 'The Namesake' in Ohio

This weekend, I happened to see a preview of 'The Namesake' and having read Jhumpa Lahiri's book I now wanted to see what the story looked like to director, Mira Nair. I skipped laundry on Sunday and at seven in the evening found myself in a movie theatre in Ohio watching the journey of an immgirant couple who arrived in the US after an arranged marriage in Kolkata, India. My friend, Seema, who was born and raised in California, accompanied me to the theatre and sat unaware of the effect this film would have on her. This entry is more than just a review it is a personal chronicle detailing my experience of watching 'The Namesake'.

The male protagonist of this film, Gogol Ganguli (Kal Penn), suffers from a common malady, an identity crisis. Born in the US, to Bengali immigrants, Ashok (Irrfan Khan) and Ashima (Tabu), he shirks from all that in reality defines him. Having witnessed Gogol Ganguli's journey of self-acquisition, I decided that I would not review this movie and instead would describe what it was like for me, as an immigrant to watch that film in a theatre surrounded predominantly by elderly white Americans and non-Indians. I felt like I was in a crash course where people were finally forced to learn a little about my culture. The love story of an arranged marriage, the immigrant struggle and the traditions that I so often get asked about were all there in one entertaining story.

I have lived in Ohio for almost five years now. Our city has one Hindu temple and three overpriced Indian grocery stores. Approximately two hundred Indian families reside in this small city and most of them are doctors at the University Hospital in town. Nonetheless, when United 93, the movie about the September 11th plane hijacking was released, I was dealt angry and bitter glances as I exited the movie theatre amidst comments about 'Arabs'. I was very confused and it took me a few minutes to realize that being brown and dark haired in Toledo, qualified me for being an 'Arab'. No matter how much I travel and how many people I meet, ignorance still startles me. I have always felt that experiences lose their relevance when spent on ignorant minds. Hence, I felt oddly exposed as the film reeled in Ashok's arrival as a graduate student in America, his quick arranged marriage to Ashima and their years of acclimatization to life in the US. I was afraid that the message in the film would be lost on the audience.

Irrfan Khan, Tabu and Kal Penn have each given real and honest performances leading the audience to believe that somewhere in New York is the Ganguli residence where these characters actually exist. To those who have read my earlier, entries, it is no secret that I regard Mira Nair as one of the most talented contemporary film directors. Her use of the airport digital displays and flash animation to convey metamorphosis was clever albeit overused. Her execution of applying the implicit to convey emotion was as always, flawless. But at the end of the movie, the one character that makes you laugh and cry with his intelligent portrayal of a reserved but sensitive man, was that of Irrfan Khan's. Through expressions and body language he brought a range of dimensions to the character of Ashok Ganguli.



Although, I thought the portrayal of Moushumi (Zulieka Robinson) was over-villainzed, compared to the one in the book, I believe it is a forgivable flaw considering a two hour film doesn't allow in-depth analysis of each character's psyche. Inspite of this limiting aspect of converting a book into a film, I thought 'The Namesake' did a fine job of exploring character pyschology without losing out on the pace of the movie.

Watching 'The Namesake' in Ohio was such a complex experience in itself, that I would not be able to review the critical and technical aspects of this film as thoroughly as I would like. I could, however, for the pleasure of the reader, describe in great detail, the enlightened expressions on my friend, Seema's face, as she recognized her own personal conflicts in Gogol's character. She laughed as she saw the quirks her parents shared with the Gangulis and cried uncontrollably as she recognized in their simple, hardworking and warm faces, the familiar ones of her immigrant parents. She walked out of the theatre aware and more respectful of the journey her parents had made long before her arrival on the scene.

Seema and I, were the only Indians in the scantily filled theatre and occasionally we could feel a glance or a stare cast our way. At other times, such a situation would've made me uncomfortable or conscious. But Gogol's journey has a message entwined in its story that even the most shallow ones among us couldn't have missed and having wrapped my thoughts around that message, I sat somewhat content and unaffected by any scrutiny. "The Namesake' made me feel like I was home for a while and as the film's tag line says, "The greatest journeys are the ones that bring us home".