Kal Penn does really well as the central character, Gogol. The cinematography, the editing (juxtaposing Calcutta and New York), and even the colours of the opening credits are all spot on. Cramming a story spanning three decades into two hours without making it feel rushed or contrived takes some doing, and Mira Nair paces it beautifully. Fortunately the film does full justice to Jhumpa Lahiri's novel. So the book has a lot of resonance for me. I also have the Bengali dilemma of having two names. As a second generation Bengali Brit who was born in India and went to university in the US, I know something about what it means to feel displaced, to be a stranger in a strange land, though I have never felt like an immigrant. I admit that I loved the book, and therefore have been looking forward to this film for a while. Mira Nair introduced the film, along with Nitin Sawhney, who wrote the score. I saw "The Namesake" at the 22nd October screening at the London Film Festival.
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