The NamesakeI saw this movie today. Didn't read the novel though but was able to connect I guess .It was a nice journey with Ashima,Ashoke,Gogol,Maxy,Ms Muzumdar,Mr Ghosh. Mira Nair again did a awesome job with the direction. The cinematography was commendable. The Howrah Railway station really reminds me of my commuting between Kharagpur and Kolkata. And the Howrah Bridge was revived from time to time, thus establishing the Indian connection. But the character that impressed me most is surely Ashima. She is perfect portrayal of Bengali woman, who is shy yet confident, childish yet mature. Tabu really did justice to Ashima. And Ashoke, his character was crafted very intricately. And then comes Gogol. His part, a teenage boy looking for way out and thus getting carried away and then his way back, Its Awesome.

This is a great family values and tradition movie I seen and has quite a bit of heart to it. The story has two focus basically on Ashoke the husband and Ashima the mother and how they met which is basically through an arrangement. And how they have Indian roots but moved to America and how they cope with the cultures and traditions of a different country. But most of the story revolves around Gogol(Kal Penn) who is the son of Ashoke and Ashima and him being adapted to the American cultures and traditons and how his family feels like he is losing his Indian roots. And the value of family because of the choices he makes. This is a touching flick that has heart and deals with Gogol's walking a path to his Indian roots. This is a heartfelt movie that I thoroughly enjoyed watching. During the credits it says "for our parents who gave us everything" and this movie shows this in a touching way.8.3/10

I have a request to Mira Nair.. please study Bengali psyche before you attempt to make such a movie. this movie is nothing but a masala mix of incidents with no concrete framework. Just by mixing scenes from Kolkata and USA does not give any impact to educated audience or global value. The editing is horrible. I am surprised by this kind of sloppy work from her specially after watching salam bombay and mississippi masala where she could prove that she knows how to make a movie. Sad to say this is a complete waste of money talent and time. The whole namesake theme was so cheap that it will wonder anyone with maturity that why the heck she went to make a movie about this.

The Namesake is about a Hindu couple who are newly weds that move to the US to start their own family. It goes through their lives and focuses mainly on their son named Gogol and how he has to come to terms with being a Hindu living in America. After finishing college, he finds a job as an architect and is portrayed to have adapted to American life. He gets the bad news that his father passed away and returns back to his suburban home where they host a ritual and where he actually realizes that being Hindu might be more important than his American life. From that point on he breaks up with his girlfriend and travels back to India to have the final ceremony of scattering his father's ashes into the sea. He later on finds another love interest, an old friend who is also a Hindu and proceeds to have a traditional Hindu wedding in New York. Sadly though after a few months he finds out that his newly wedded wife, Moushumi, had been cheating on him and they soon get a divorce. Gogol returns back to his house in the suburbs where his mother currently lives and tells her what has happened and from that point on they both decide to find peace. Gogol goes around India learning more about his Hindu heritage and his mother also returns to India to practice her singing again. While watching this movie i enjoyed it thoroughly not only because it was touching but also it was very natural in the sense that everything that happened in this movie is very realistic in which it could happen in everyday life. I enjoyed the fact that even though there was a problem between the two main characters, Gogol was able to find peace in the end. Not only that but the rest of his family was able to find peace and live out their lives the way they wanted to. I also enjoyed this book because it gave me an insight to Hindu traditions and how a traditional Hindu family/person adapts to American life. Also the decision of whether Gogol should've just ignored his Hindu heritage was another really touching moment during the movie. I recommend this movie to those who like movies that will touch their hearts, and those who enjoy learning about other people's cultures.