Last Updated on November 23, 2020 by themigrationnews
The simplicity and subtle tone of the film tries to speak louder the notion of immigration. The movie based on JhumpaLahiri book beautifully traces the loneliness and emptiness in an individual due to migration. ‘Namesake’ indicates the whole idea of standard of living and better opportunities at the pretext of migration which is just for the namesake as the title suggests.
It is a fascinating piece of art reflecting the issue of migration and the complexities occurring from it. The film directed by Mira Nair entwines Indian tradition and American modernity. The movie also depicts the cross cultural conflicts with tenuous ideas of India. The film starts from Kolkata, India and ends in Kolkata doing a whole round. In between the journey has all the ups and downs portraying two generations, one which migrated and another which are born in the host country.
The opening short takes glimpses of actual Kolkata- the slums, yellow taxi honking and the brownish fabric of India. Mira has tried to create the contrast by capturing New York in whites, black, greys and pastel interiors whereas Kolkata in brownish colours of chaos and slice of life. The dialogues, soundtracks reflect solitary; the long silence conveys the solemn.
The story is set in the 1970’s Kolkata where Ashoke (Irrfan Khan) decides to migrate to New York due to a few shocking incidents in his life accompanied by wife Ashima (Tabu). The movie captures the journey of the Ganguli family in America. The first half shows the mutual companionship between the two and the initial years in America. The initial days were hard to engirdle in the land far from home. However, later they coped up when they found people of their own kind- Bengali families in the foreign land to be part of their happiness.
The conflict starts when the second generation- the couple’s children have different aspirations and mind sets. The young generation has adapted to American culture whereas the Ashoke- Ashima are still struggling to cope up with these generational as well as cultural transitions. The film even cherishes tiny moments of their lives to give the film a flavor of realism – “Remember this always, remember you and I we made this journey, remember we went to this place together when there was nowhere left to go”. However, the movie tries to contradict the cross cultural scenario in the climax.
The movie contains a story which over the time becomes the Ganguli family’s legend and also influences the life of Ashoke. This story involves the Russian author Nikolai Gogol’s book ‘The overcoat’. This book is also one of the reasons why Ashoke decided to migrate and keep the name of his first born as Gogol. Which later becomes a joke and that frustrates his son Gogol (Kal Pen). The writer in a way uses Nikolai Gogol’s ‘The overcoat’ as the analogy. The overcoat is assumed to signify a new beginning coming out from the past. Similarly, immigration in film is the overcoat for Ashoke.
The writer has added soul to the movie through dialogues. Few lines from the poem- ‘Daffodils’ is used which indicates loneliness. A dialogue in the film affirms one won’t ever regret travelling the world- “It is a dream, sparkling, clean streets, nobody spitting on the road, you are young, you are free, pack your pillow and blanket and see the world you will never regret it”.
Several times, the drivers of migration has been debatable, the movie rightly captures that drivers are more of a micro sense and subjective in nature. One rail accident changes the whole perspective of Ashoke towards his life. Hence he makes a choice to immigrate and build a better life. The movie also highlights the marriage migration, where a woman has to migrate with her husband. This movie depicts the untold lives of immigrants and their changing relationship equations. It is a must watch as it gives deep insights of one’s life of whom we envy but reality is different than it looks. Movie hooks you up to the raw emotions expressed by the characters. One can feel the essence of unsaid words and the sadness of pain even when life is slightly better.
Snehal Mutha, is a Pune based journalist doing her little and loves to read books, finds her peace in food. Her areas of interest are gender studies, international migration and social issues. She wants to be a pantomath who loves to explore and travel the world. She loves to express herself in the form of creative writing and digital art.https://twitter.com/SnehalMutha?s=08