From highly-acclaimed director, Mira Nair (Vanity Fair, Monsoon Wedding) comes the The Namesake - the story of a New York-born Indian, played by Kal Penn (Superman Returns, 24, Epic Movie) who is torn between his desire to live an American life and his parents' dream that he honour his Indian heritage. The Namesake, which is based on the novel by Pulitzer Prize Winner, Jhumpa Lahiri, is available on DVD from Monday 30 July from Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment.The Namesake follows the Ganguli family who are caught between two conflicting cultures. Parents Ashoke (Irfan Khan - Partition, A Mighty Heart) and Ashima (Tabu) long for the cultural family life they grew up with whilst their son Gogol (Penn) attempts to blend in as an American, by falling in love with wealthy, white, Manhattan woman, Maxine (Jacinda Barrett - Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, The Last Kiss). When Gogol's father Ashoke dies, he and Maxine discover that their cultural divide is too strong for their relationship to survive, so Gogol pursues a relationship with a Bengali childhood friend, Moushumi (Zuleikha Robinson) brought-up in England. Their similar upbringings draw them to marry but they eventually realise that a shared culture is not enough for them to find happiness together.
Spanning two generations, two clashing cultures and two very different ways of life, The Namesake ultimately asks what it really means to be an American family.