EP 174: MMovies: (Relating to) The Namesake
“It really tugs at your heart in the shared experience of growing up with dual cultures - and then recognizing all that our parents had gone through” // “...and at every moment that loneliness was pervasive.”
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MMovies returns to talk about important films that explain the minority experience for the rest of our majority ears. THE NAMESAKE is known by many as the 2003 book to decode most of your Indian friends. Adapted in 2006 as a family by Mira Nair - this is a work that many of us have a LOT of feelings about (esp if you’re a South Asian American boy between the ages of 25-45 years old). The film stars stars Kal Penn in the title role as Gogol Ganglani - alongside Zuleikha Robinson, Jacinda Barret as love interests, Sahira Nair as his sister, and Tabu + the late, great Irfan Khan who steal the film and bring us to tears as Gogol’s immigrant parents. The story follows the life of a young Bengali boy as he grows into adulthood across two cultures. But unlike the book, the film is not as much an interior reflection of Gogol, but a broader take on the family origins and experience - where his parents take just as much the center stage. While the book really spoke to many of us in our early 20s, you can’t help but watch the film in adulthood and see it from the perspective of the parents. Joining us today to talk about the Namesake is FrieMMd of the Pod, and our favorite Iranian Canadian by way of Ohio, Ida Abdalkhani. No tears this episode, just lots of the feels with this one.
LEARN MORE & MENTIONS
FILM: The Namesake (2006, Mira Nair):imdb.com/title/tt0433416/
BOOK: The Namesake (2003, Jhumpa Lahiri): goodreads.com/book/show/33917.The_Namesake
ARTICLE (2018): ‘Revisiting the Nameake’ pajiba.com/film_reviews/revisiting-mira-nair-and-kal-penns-the-namesake-after-crazy-rich-asians.php
GUEST: Ida Abdalkhani - youtu.be/-HJG63EXCmw