The Namesake – From acclaimed director Mira Nair “Vanity Fair” and “Monsoon Wedding” comes a little movie that has finally made a massive attack on the big box office. Based on the best-selling novel by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jhumpa Lahiri, “The Namesake” explores values, tradition and history – something we’ll recognize from our own ancestors – through the eyes of an Indian-American family. Part “My Big Fat Greek Wedding’ part “Borat,” the story opens in Calcutta 1977, as Ashoke and Ashima Ganguli are brought together in an arranged marriage before heading to America “land of opportunity.” Leaving their Bollywood lifestyle behind, the saga begins as the two discover their first plane ride, gas stoves that work 24 hours a day, and men who service women by making them something as simple as a cup of tea. Fast forward twenty years later and their son Gogol (Kal Penn) grows up in America, and begins to reject his Indian ancestry by finding safety in his rich American girlfriend (Jacinda Barett) and avoiding his traditional parents at all costs. That is until a tragedy strikes and he is forced to understand the secrets of his parents past, why he was named for the Russian writer Nikolai Gogol, and what may be the key to his entire future. The movie will mesmerize you from beginning to end, but it’s the last forty minutes that touches on our own personal histories and family traumas in reminding us why we should never forget who we are and what we came from. So bring an entire box of tissues. Four tiaras
