It’s a misfortune in itself that cinema lovers across the globe admire Irrfan Khan deeply but only few have witnessed this beautiful book adaptation by Mira Nair, The Namesake.
The Namesake is the story of a couple Ashoke and Ashima (Tabu) from Kolkata, West Bengal who get married and move to New York in 1977. The premise holds the importance of a book called The Overcoat by Nikolai Gogol, that Ashoke (Irrfan Khan) is deeply attached to and names his son Gogol after it.
The film is majorly shot and set in New York covering the gradual years of their stay away from their homeland India, in a foreign nation caught up in a constant struggle of protecting their traditions and culture and making peace with their children Gogol and Sonia’s stark different approach at life.
“My grandfather always says that’s what books are for. To travel without moving a inch”
– Ashoke Ganguli, The Namesake
The film will hand out relatability for everyone who views it, be it an Indian settled elsewhere or an Indian living back home.
Written by Jhumpa Lahiri, The Namesake originally got published in 2003 and the film adaptation came out in 2006.
Irrfran Khan as Ashoke Ganguli is every father out there who only wants to make ends meet so that his children and family don’t have to suffer. But most importantly, what sets the film to an even higher pedestal, is the beautiful chemistry between Tabu and Irrfan Khan, that will make you miss a lover you don’t even have, and might slightly reinstate your faith in arranged marriages.
The Namesake is about loving your family and your homeland without stereotypical representations of love but by just being there.
The F Word 
Nicely written. Good start.
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Beautiful write up Poorva….I have not seen the film The Namesake but your write has now urged me to do so.
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