Friday, November 03, 2006

"Believe me, my dear fellow, that so long as people refuse to give up everything for the sake of which they attack and devour each other on earth, that so long as they refuse to think of putting their spiritual fortune in order, there will be no fair distribution of earthly fortunes, either" - Nikolai Gogol



Although the security confiscated all digi-cams and camera phones, I managed to sneak mine in to catch an extremely hazy pic of Kal Penn and Mira Nair talking towards the front of the screen, prior to the movie. Am I star-crazed paparazzi enough for you?



But what left one mesmerized was the film itself. The Namesake was a touching and brilliant amalgamation of a few generations of talents - Mira Nair, Jhumpa Lahiri, Tabu and Irfan Khan supported by the understructure of the flute/guitar/drum'n'bass background compositions of Nitin Sawhney. And of course, the elusive Siberian who began this whole thing - Nikolai Gogol.

Namesake captures the Indian immigrant experience, almost effortlessly. This movie amalgamates all the individual thoughts and emotions thrown across in singularity by several comedians and journalists over the last 10-15 years, as this diaspora has expanded out of anonymity. But in true Mirabai-style balance, the movie uplifts as much as it depresses - perhaps depresses is a strong word in this case, I would say, makes one clearly realize what's missing. Unlike other movies that scream out their messaging, Namesake plays on simplicity.

A MUST watch!

1 comment:

Zeenat Rasheed said...

Like I said earlier, I get the feeling that the movie will be better than the book :)

Long time no talk -- miss ya! :)