This movie was the equivalent of a warm blanket that covered me throughout its 2-hour duration.
The namesake is a timeless coming of age story beautifully visualized by the amazing Mira Nair who puts her best foot forward with this film. Adapted from Jhumpa Lahiri’s popular novel, conveys a palpable sense of people as living, breathing creatures who are far more complex than what they seem.
The film adaptation is gentle and compassionate. The longing for roots of these displaced middle-class Indians lends a soulful undertow to a film conspicuously lacking in melodrama. It is a heartfelt tale about finding your true calling in life placed in the dynamic of a son and his relationship with his Indian parents.
The film starts out in the backdrop of 1970's Calcutta where Ashok (Irfan Khan) is traveling on a train to somewhere, reading his favorite book 'The overcoat'. While he is having his leisurely read, a fellow passenger randomly engages in a conversation with him and tells him to "Pack a pillow and blanket and go see the world" which young Ashok takes to heart.
After his marriage is arranged with Ashima (Tabu) they both go off to start a family in America and have two kids, Gogol and Sonia. Gogol is the name of the author who wrote 'The overcoat'.
As he grows up the story's focus shifts from the perspective of Ashok and Ashima to their son's. Growing up in American society makes him slightly disenfranchised with his name and more importantly with his family and Bengali roots.
I found everything about this movie to be engaging and deeply moving.
The soundtrack which is a combination of Indian classical instruments all creating a warm atmosphere. I could easily fall asleep listening to this soundtrack during my sleepless nights (as I have).
The cinematography of the film also lends to the comforting feeling that it tries to create and the scenic shots of the Ganga river during a certain scene (which I won't spoil for you) is extremely pleasing to look at. Certain frames actually can be perceived as paintings if they were to be put out as stills, they are that good!
The performances in the film are definitely something worth writing home about as Irrfan Khan and Tabu have possibly done the best work of their lives with their extremely nuanced performances which absolutely captured my heart.
Seeing their chemistry on-screen makes them a believable couple and you get the feeling of trust and companionship emitting out of both their characters which is very difficult to nail down especially when all the dialogs of the film are in English. That's right, no Hindi dialog between the two and they still manage to do a tremendous job!
Kal Penn who plays Gogol also played his part with extreme ease and portrayed all the emotions of an Indian-American torn between two worlds goes through. All of them were able to make me feel for their characters enough that I was almost about to tear up during several scenes in the film.
But when put in scenes where he had to act against the other two veteran actors at the time, the stark difference in experience definitely showed.
I regret the fact that I slept on this film for so long and just recently got around to seeing it after the unfortunate passing of the great Irrfan Khan.
But it has definitely managed to make a place in the pantheon of my favorite feel-good films to watch.
The movie was the equivalent of a warm blanket that covered me for nearly 2 hours and took me on a journey few films have managed to so far.
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