The Namesake
Overall, it doesnt work...In my mind, it'll probably go down as a negative in Mira Nair's career. The movie was touching and moving at some points (particularly at both the death sequences which sent a shiver down my spine), but rest of it was a mere documentary depicting the tale of an immigrant trying to adjust to new norms and ways of a society. Some of the scenes or sequencies were totally unwarranted, eg, Ashima's Bengali daughter-in-law having an affair could have been removed, it didnt add value except showing the American-ness creeping into the ABCDs. Also, I felt the whole movie was a little hushed through, in order to put prime life of 2 generations on the canvas. Because of this, MN couldn't really dig deeper into how the characters felt in the aftermath of each turn in life...I'd rather have liked her to reduce the life span of the movie, stopping when Gogul marries the Bengali girl.
The aspect I found appealing was Ashima's East-vs-West conundrum....probably more because of Tabu who gave a brilliantly restrained performance.
The NYC and Calcutta bridges were used nicely, not just to crop up nostalgic resemblance in looks, but also to portray inner strength and act as a pillar of support for the protagonist when she is looking into nothing from the window in search of something to hold on to during the difficult moments. The daffodils poem is used very efficiently...
At the end, I was wondering how much truth there is today in Ashima's lack of merging into the US. Nowadays, you can find more westernized Indians in India itself, esp in the metros....I'm not sure how much lonely they feel when they come to the US, esp with the thriving desi community in NYC. But I do know of aunts who probably feel same as Ashima because they came to the US 2-3 decades back......that does make me sad, as did the movie. I'd still rate Monsoon Wedding as her best movie till-date because of sharply etched characters, brilliant screenplay and awesome execution.
-Sanjit
April 21, 2007, 1am, CA.
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