Jayeeta Majumdar Singhee

I watched namesake – twice. And both times cried as if some major calamity had struck me. Actually, I cry more often than I want to off late – any silly scene, any dead pet, or even something as trivial as someone traveling abroad leaving their family behind can make me cry :(

So this movie with all things Bengali made me cry so often, that Sanjay was irritated beyond words.

I quite liked the book (a bit amateurish), but the movie is better. Mira Nair adapts the story much more faithfully and realistically, though the comparisons with Ray and Ghatak is just stretching it far too much.

The story of this young Bengali couple, who make a foreign country their home, raising their children among friends, surrounding themselves with only Bengali friends to keep their Bengali-ness alive in their daily life etc. seemed so close to my own, that I identified with almost everything it did. Only difference being that my parents moved to different parts within India.

• Our trips to Cal were always filled with immense pleasure at meeting our cousins mixed with a strange displacement felt by us – the probashi-bangali children. The movie portrays this entire thing beautifully, with the two children just unable to understand the hotch potch everywhere – complaining about the rickshaw, heat, population...well - just about everything

• The scene where the daughter’s “onnoprashon” is held with the entire jing bang bong families celebrating it, reminded me of Ishaan’s “onnoprashon” with all our family friends rejoicing with us; and of the numerous other joyful and distressing times that I have spent with these same people.

• The parties in Ashok and Ashima’s house with people singing, gossiping, chatting, howling, drinking, eating seemed like home (my parents home :)). I could almost see my uncles, aunts, their children and all of us squatting on the floor, and gossiping away - till as late as 1:30 in the night, oblivious to the time and the neighbors around.

• The scene where the entire family comes to the airport to see the newly married couple off (right in the beginning of the movie) reminded me sooo much of my own trip to the US after my marriage. The airport was filled with atleast 30 people, and I was traveling only for “a month”. :-d

The movie has some amazingly beautiful moments. Like the scene where Kal tonsures his head –because he remembers seeing his father do the same for his father. And some funny ones. Like the scene where Maxine (Kal’s girlfriend) calls Ashima by her first name, and then goes ahead and kisses Ashok to greet him. The expressions on their faces are worth watching.

Irfan (as Ashok) and Tabu (as Ashima) deliver a quiet and controlled performance. At times the bong accent seems flawed….but only at-times. Tabu was amazing, much much better than I expected (I never really like her in the promos). Irfan was just outstanding. His English-Bong accent must have been HARD WORK.

There’s one scene, which had Sanjay in splits. Tabu and Irfan waiting outside their home and waiving goodbye to Kal and his girlfriend, and they do this till they can see the car no more. My ma and baba do it even now, each time we visit them – and we stay ten minutes away from them.