The Namesake

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Before giving birth to Gogol at a hospital in Cambridge, Ashima looks out of the window. She gazes longingly at the Queensboro Bridge with all its metallic strappings, and for a moment or two she is reminded of the Howrah Bridge, one of the landmarks back home, in Calcutta. And quiet regret mists her eyes...

It is this scene in Meera Nair's The Namesake which, for me, lays down the foundation of the film. Their roots immersed in the warm Calcutta sun, the Bengali immigrants living in the United States of America, or in any other parts of the world for that matter, always strive to bridge a cultural gap.

Welcome to the world of The Namesake - a world of longing, rebellion, and acceptance.

The film is an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Jhumpa Lahiri. It is the story of the Ganguli family spanning two generations. In the 1970's newly married couple, Ashoke and Ashima move to Massachusetts, and welcome their first child. A twist of fate prevents them from naming their son as per Bengali rituals, and they end up giving him a daak naam "Gogol". Soon they are blessed with a daughter, Sonia, and the immigrant family begin living their American dream. The film details several themes - the life of immigrants from India, coming of age of Gogol who struggles to make sense of the cross-cultural friction and the relational complexities in this cultural melting-pot.

The Namesake is one of my favourite films, not only because it is a beautiful cinematic transition of one of Lahiri's masterpieces, but also for being a poignant ode to the city of Calcutta. The pavements dotted with tea-stalls, the streets packed with people and vehicles, and of course the cantilevered expanse of the Howrah Bridge can make any anyone fall in love with the city all over again.

To my delight, the North Calcutta para is extensively shown in certain parts of the film. The old, decorated buildings along the lanes and by-lanes of North Calcutta have always fascinated me. Every time I pass these neighbourhoods, the intricately decorated façades of these old, unkempt houses hold a certain curiosity. The moss-ridden terraces and the trees sprouting from parapets are proofs that these structures have borne witness to the changing times.

Time seems to have eaten into their walls but the houses still stand. I have often seen sarees of colours dotting the terraces, or occasionally, a woman in the veranda drying her hair in the afternoon sun. Many a times have I wondered about the daily life that goes on behind these ancient façades. And thanks to Nair, I could catch a glimpse of the livelihood in these mansions of the past; and suddenly they seem to have acquired a voice... a story.

The film takes us back to the city of Calcutta of the 70's, an era of chequered realities. On the one hand, we see Leftist protest marches across the city bearing hammer-sickle flags and signs which shouted "Down with White Supremacy!'; while on the other hand we have young Ashima thrilled to leave the hustle-bustle of her home and settle down in the distant land of America.

It's true when they say that you may leave Calcutta, but Calcutta never leaves you. When newly-wed Ashima goes to live in New York for the first time, a small portrait of Tagore is her lone company when Ashoke leaves for work. Time and again the city makes it presence felt sometimes in the small anecdotes cited by nostalgic Bengalis during soirées at the comfort of their Boston homes, or sometimes in the reminiscences of Ashoke and Ashima.

The Namesake is essentially Gogol's story, an American-born Indian who rejects his name as he does his roots in Calcutta. While on a trip to Calcutta with his parents, Gogol and his sister

Sonia are unable to mingle with their relatives. They do not regard the city as their own. In fact, Calcutta, to them, is their "parents' homeland", and they are mere outsiders - distant onlookers observing the hustle bustle, the antiquity and the camaraderie so characteristic of Calcutta, often with disdain and sometimes with awe.

The film addresses some pet obsessions embedded in the Bengali culture, which I have grown to love with time. For instance, Calcuttans have always had a fixation for the shoe brand "Bata". So much so that sometimes we tend to forget that it is not an indigenous brand at all, but a company based in Switzerland. In fact, Bata's first corporate campaign in India had been done in Bengali, and it bore the slogan "Haata manei Bata" (Walking means Bata). In a scene in the film where Ashoke and Ashima visit Calcutta for a few days with Gogol and Sonia, Ashima's mother is seen fussing over her foreign-returned grandchildren and the male servant of the household is ordered to get brand new slippers for them. "Only Bata!", she shouted.

The story also evokes another Bengali stereotype - the mysterious affair of "Daak-naam". For all those who are unaware of it, every Bengali is bestowed with two names as soon as they are born - a "good name" and a "pet name". And while the good name is kept after a lot of contemplations and flipping through the Bengali dictionary, the pet name is a rather ransom affair. It originates from a place of love and affection, a place untouched by any logic. So while a serious Siddhartha may often be referred to by his mother lovingly as Poltu, a rebellious Riddhima may turn red when called Tuki in the presence of her friends. 18 years old Gogol Ganguli, the protagonist of The Namesake is no different, and it is this dilemma around which the story revolves. When Gogol was born, the honour of naming him was bestowed on his grandmother in Calcutta. However, the letter couldn't reach Cambridge on time, and instead he was named lovingly by his father after his favourite author, the Russian writer Nikolai Gogol. As circumstances would have it, he eventually came to be known as Gogol, and not by his "good name" Nikhil.

The film, despite being a commendable watch, has a few glitches which crop up from time to time. The Namesake is a period film which takes place in the 1970's. But at times inconsistencies crop up which does not match with the timeline. Here, I am going to talk about two such discrepancies. Firstly, a scene which unfolds in a railway station in Calcutta shows a hoarding displaying an IndusInd ad. The bank, however, became operational in the country in the 1990's. Secondly, one can see placards of The Telegraph on the city streets, even though this daily newspaper was first published in 1982.