The Namesake - A Film Preview

Based on the Novel by Jhumpa Lahiri

A Mirabai Films & Cine Mosaic Production

Banner: UTV Motion Pictures,
Producers: Mira Nair and Lydia Dean Pilcher
Director: Mira Nair
Screenplay: Sooni Taraporevala
Novel: Jhumpa Lahiri

Cast:
Tabu ... Ashima Ganguli
Irfan Khan ... Ashoke Ganguli
Kal Penn … Gogol Ganguli
Sahira Nair ... Sonia Ganguli
Zuleikha Robinson … Moushumi Mazoomdar
Jacinda Barrett ... Maxine Ratliff
Jhumpa Lahiri … Aunt Jhumpa 

The greatest journeys … are the ones that bring you home.

Pulitzer Prize winner Jhumpa Lahiri is looking forward to her New York Bestseller ‘The Namesake’ taking on new life as a film, directed by Mira Nair. Lahiri will also be making a fleeting guest appearance as Aunt Jhumpa. Kal Penn (of ‘Harold and Kumar’ fame) will be taking on his first dramatic role as Gogol Ganguli. Termed as a comedy/drama/romance, ‘The Namesake’ follows the story of this Bengali family from their early beginnings in Calcutta to their life as Americans.

Life as a first generation American Born Confused Desi (ABCD) is difficult for Gogol and his sister Sonia (Sahira Nair of ‘Monsoon Wedding’ fame). The film explores the clash of cultures and tangled ties between two generations and two different worlds. The story behind Gogol’s namesake and how he stumbles through life trying his best to define himself in spite of it all, makes up this deeply moving drama, which Nair has taken from the exquisitely written novel and adapted it powerfully, yet empathetically onto celluloid.