Comments on: The Tabu of the Namesake

By: LinZi

LinZi — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 05:26:05 +0000

And by the way, yes, you are a racist

By: LinZi

LinZi — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 05:17:07 +0000

wow, Nirmal, way to take a crappy movie with poorly developed characters, and use it to paint a picture of every gori in America.

By: Nirmal

Nirmal — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 03:16:19 +0000

i have to say i was not only dissapointed, but rather offended at this movie. i’m sick of the goris being cast as the innocent sweet ‘better alternative’ to desi girls, and given such a provincial, respected status. this doesn’t just go for this movie, it goes for alot of desi films, and disturbingly growing more and more popular. i want to see a film where the reality of the destructive nature that western girls have on eastern guys and have that impress on our people. i enjoyed outsourced more, because it seems the non desi guys who go for desi girls, though maybe not quite as delightfully ignorant of eastern things as was poretrayed there, they are not trying to live some crazy screwed up fantasy. they don’t feel they have to become something else and try to kiss our a** just to make us respect them. the western girls make themselves attention wh*res, and make themselves out as morally degrading rags who were probably laughed at by their own kind for being physchotic in some nature, so they imposer themselves on eastern guys to gain ego stroking. the guys on the other hand are completely oblivious to this kind of stuff, and their mix masala relationship is based on far healthier grounds. whilst i myself am desi mix race, and am happily married to a full desi munda, i want to add that it;s not the skin colours, or even quite so much the cultures involved that clash, but the morals and behaviour. and lastly i notice alot more when desi guys go with firangi girls they try to act just as fake to make up for the girl’s behaviour. alot of fellow desi girls i know who go with the western guys on the other hand, loosen up in a fun way, yet stay connected to who they are, and they tend to have a more respevctful, realistic relationship. i wish if we have to see mix cultures in our films that we see more of this.

By: LaughingBuddhini

LaughingBuddhini — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 17:32:50 +0000

The movie had some great moments - especially the father character (Ashok Ganguli), Ashimi and Gogol. Many of the events were strange and inexplicable to me though, including why Gogol did not try to bring his personal life into his relationship with his girlfriend and why Gogol's wife felt opressed by him though he was perfectly nice to her. Perhaps Mira Nair tried to put in too many incidents and hence did not have time to put things in context?

Nevertheless, I really enjoyed the movie... How could I not with the excellent company we had.

By: chick pea

chick pea — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 15:22:43 +0000

finally saw the movie here in ATL last night.. to be quite frank.. wasn’t really impressed at all… the best actors were the parents.. the rest were forgetable..

By: lala

lala — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 23:11:43 +0000

I thought Kal Penn really breathed life into the Gogol character, who was just lifeless and boring to me in the novel. I actually liked him in the movie. But then, I really like Kal Penn...he's a cutie. Thank God they didn't cast Abhishek in the role. I would not be able to stomach him trying to play an American!

All in all, I have to say, I actually liked the movie better than the book.

By: Amitabh

Amitabh — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 05:27:48 +0000

One nice little micro scene (it went by in a flash) is when the family visits India for the first time and Kal (Gogol) and his sister, brand new in Calcutta, see a shop sign with the name ‘Ganguli’ on it (a Bengali name which was also their name)…to me, it nicely reinforced what having roots in a particular culture and a particular geography is all about. It’s about where one and one’s culture/language/ethnicity comes from. Especially when you grow up in a culture and environment where your name, instead of being well-known and respectable, is an anxiety-provoking source of teasing and alienation.

By: technophobicgeek

technophobicgeek — Sun, 25 Mar 2007 16:47:45 +0000

He didn't know where the movie stood on relationships, as "it didn't work out with the white girl or the Indian one".

I think it's a plot device to indicate that the protagonist, at that point in his life, did not 'belong' to either cultures, and he has some way to go to figure out where he fits in culturally. It finally gives him the 'freedom' to explore on his own.

By: MoS

MoS — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 00:40:15 +0000

What I wonder is why an immigrant in America would expect a person who was born and raised here to conform to the cultural customs and habits they brought with them from their birth country?

I'm pretty sure telling someone that they've mourned their dead father enough and should now, like, totally go on vacation to forget about it would even piss some white Americans off. I don't think it was an issue of conforming to immigrant culture at all -- these two individuals just had different expectations about how a person should deal with grief.

I was referring to the reference made here by someone regarding the fact that she wore black sleeveless clothing to the funeral/memorial/whatever. Black is generallyl what is worn to such services in this country and sleeveless is harmless.

Also in the trailer he tells her no handholding in front of parents. Why should he expect her to follow that? (And how many Indian-American parents are really offended by their kids holding their partners hands anyway? Nowadays probably not that many. And if they are it's probably because they wished their own partner would hold their hand more.) And no kissing. She kisses both parents when first meeting them. What American does that? We shake hands at first meetings. Hugs are for people we know a bit better. And kissing on first introduction? Isn't that European?

By: hoihoi

hoihoi — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 16:40:32 +0000

I have to agree with dsg. Its been a few years since American Desi ( also with our man Kal) and now the namesake. and while the craft and quality differences between the two are undeniably HUGE I cant help coming away with the smae "so what" feeling. How long till we all are bored stiff with these identity politics movies? These narratives are boxing us in and denying us a real chance at being judged by larger society without the caveat of our ethnicity or parent's origin. As a side note, I sense in some of the reviews of the Namesake in major publications a bit of exoticism at the "colors, and high emotions" of south asian peoples. They are so soulfull and the clothes are so gorgeous! I love the jewlery and OHHh the henna!

thats it, sorry for the rambling kiddos.