Namesake - Mira Nair's adaptation of Jhumpa Lahiri's bestseller The Namesake has recieved rave reviews across the US. The film opens to the public on March 16, the film will open in Boston, Chicago, DC, Denver, Philadelphia, San Jose, Seattle, and Vancouver, and then across Dallas, Detroit, Hartford, Houston, Miami, Minneapolis, Montreal, Oakland, Phoenix, San Diego, and St Louis on the 23rd March.. It will be simultaniously released in India.The film should have hit all US cities within six weeks, the executive producer of the film Ronnie Screwvala currently in Hollywood to attend the release of The Namesake and another film produced by his company I Think I Love My Wife, starring Chris Rock expects the movie to be a huge success..Namesake is also recieving a huge interest in India even though it is primarliy aimed at th UK/US market where it is being marketed as a moving story of parents and children, making language unimportant.If expectations on breaking North American records for Indian-themed movies, The Namesake will have to out sell Water's $5.5 million gross, Bride & Prejudice's $6.8 million gross in 2004, and then Nair's own film Monsoon Wedding which grossed over $13 million six years ago. And then there is Bend it Like Beckham which garnered about $32 million five years agoThe only negative criticism is Nair tries to shoehorn too much of a big novel into a small two-hour movie, says Rolling Stone while giving the film three stars (out of four). but they concede this is a generational family saga everyone can relate to, and Nair gives it her special magic.'The performances of Tabu and Irrfan Khan as the beleagured immigrant couple and Kal Penn as their rebellious son who slowly comes to realise the importance of connecting to one's roots came for praise from most critics.Nair has received plenty of praise for casting Kal Penn in his first truly dramatic part.'It was bold of Nair to cast Penn, the deadpan comic star of Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle, in the complex role of Gogol, whose love-hate, push-pull relationship with his heritage forms the spiritual core of the story,' Entertainment Weekly wrote. 'Penn turns out to be a fantastic actor. His sexy, cool surface works for the film -- Gogol is a Bengali American who knows, righteously, that he's as homegrown as Mickey Mantle -- yet Penn's eyes are full of fury and desire, and they mirror the film's primal question: In a country where we can invent ourselves anew, how does family define us?'
In the coming weeks, as the film rolls out to medium sized cities and smaller cities in the Bible Belt, we would know if there are many people who will see their own immigrant experiences reflected in the film. Or for that matter will embrace it for what it is: A heart-warming, soul stirring drama with at least three mesmerising performances.