But at least it got made! I'm eagerly awaiting its US release. Anyone on the SALTAF committee in DC reading this? I'll make the trip back East for this...

No song, no dance, no interest.

this is the holy trinity of 'how to kill an indian movie'

otherwise known as a holy trifecta of 'how to get this bean to watch an indian flick'

shabash :)

It will probably get a limited release in NYC and LA and then quickly dumped on dvd.

I have no doubt that this movie will do well with the artsy-fartsy non-brown American crowd.

p.s. um ennis, it will also will be of interest artsy-fartsy brown(macaca) 'exotic' indian american crowds.
woot woot ;)

Vikram - why so pessimistic? Here's how Monsoon wedding did:

Total US Gross $13,876,974

Production Budget $160,000 [Link]

Foreign grosses were even higher:

Domestic: $13,885,966 45.1%
+ Foreign: $16,901,390 54.9%
= Worldwide: $30,787,356 [Link]

Mira Nair's no box-office naif ...

India loves movies like Krrish...

America loves movies like Beerfest.

Sorry Ennis, but i don't think this movie will "do well" in the states. Maybe its dollars per screen will be high, but if anything it will play in limited release.

um ennis, it will also will be of interest artsy-fartsy brown(macaca) 'exotic' indian american crowds.

Sorry Bean, I meant that to be implicit when I described it as the trifecta of desi-American bliss.

Yay! How exciting- I can't wait for the movie to come out. ( I though the book sucked but the trailer looks awesome!) Maybe I can get some mutineers from the forthcoming LA meetup to go watch the film. And MAYBE, just maaaaybe, Kal Penn will let Sepia Mutiny do an exclusive interview for publicity for this movie. As an LA mutineer, I will kindly offer my services to volunteer for said task. ;-)

Vikram - why so pessimistic? Here's how Monsoon wedding did:

Even the best of directors can have a flop due to various factors... none to really do with the film itself: timing, marketing and mood of the audience. Somehow I think "The Namesake" might be a bigger hit on video than theatrically. A film like "Blade Runner" died at the box office in '82, but has now become a standard by which most sci-fi films are judged.

Lavanya,

Sorry but your analysis is dead wrong. India had 3x the US population. It will make a lot more here on a relative basis than it will in India. Assuming the price of ticket is around 100 rupees and adjusting for that population difference, the movie will have a better run here than in India. Yes Americans will see Beerfest, I certainly did, but I also look forward to this movie. Face it, the state of movies in India is action or overly melodramatic. Nothing much in between.

Kal Penn is not really Indian and neither are any of you.

Agreed on Kal Penn, and conceded on myself. Still, Mira Nair, Tabu and Irfan Khan are all Indian, and the story is that of an Indian family.

That actress is wearing the worst blond wig I have ever seen.....

Ennis, 'two worlds, one journey,' is an utterly awesome phrase, I agree.

I am not sure what do people have in mind when they drool over Kal Penn. Is it his looks or talent? I think he is a mediocre at both.

Does anyone know when this comes out? The official website lists the release date as 3/9/2007, but I heard that it is being released on 9/20/2006.

Assuming that it comes out on the 20th, any mutineers in the NYC area want to check it out?

I though the book sucked

been wriggling with anticipation just waiting for its release.

In my experience (so ya'll don't start freaking out on me), many (I didn't say all) Indians-from-India either don't understand the issues of desis in America (and, I suppose, why should they?), or think it's one long sob story. If I felt that way about something I probably wouldn't see a film about it.

However, I think it will be pretty successful in the States. Practically everyone I know saw Water, and that was a potentially less "accessible" film. Maybe that's just my delusional NYC attitude, though.

Also, I think people of all walks of life can identify with various elements of The Namesake. I don't just see films with brown people in them, so... Plus, Indian culture is, like, sooooo cool, y'know?

The Fox website just says this fall - where did you get the date of the 20th from?

I heard it was pushed back to Spring 07 from Fall 06 because of potential competition from other films.

Also, for those of you who might be as obsessed (or, um wriggling), check out The Namesake blog, written by Mr. Modi himself.

Vikram,

Go back and re-read what I wrote. Did I say The Namesake would "do better" in India? No. I said, the Namesake will not "do well" in the US. And when I said "do well," what I really meant was, "it will not play in wide release, nor will it be a blockbuster a la Beerfest." Ergo, it may not do well in India, but it won't do well in the US either.

Calm the hell down before you make assumptions about what I am saying.

nor will it be a blockbuster a la Beerfest

Ummm - even at the slowest point in the year, Beerfest isn't in the top 10. Hardly a blockbuster.

Dunno what the obsession with Beerfest is. It will probably be gone in a week. Probably show up on dvd in the "unrated" format in a month and forgotten. Hardly a hit.

Yawn...another movie/book about confused Indian-Americans....hasn't this already been done before? And the same tired Indian-boy-wants-white-chick-but-encounters-CONSERVATIVE-Indian-family plot....Yawn

jhumpa lahiri = overrated

R.K. Narayan wrote better books in English than almost all of these desi-English authors...

btw is it just me or does Kal Penn look like Khrisna from the DD Mahabharat serial in that pic? hmm...

I’ve been wriggling with anticipation just waiting for its release.

Marvelous turn of phrase there. Me three.

The relevant trifecta for me is Mira Nair (I object to your "pushing the line of prurient exoticism" Ennis!), Kal Penn and Nitin Sawhney (soundtrack). I'm no fan of Jhumpa.

A couple of months ago, I had a chat with the wonderful Ms Nair in a Chinese restaurant. After gushing shamelessly about Monsoon Wedding, I had one request only before I let her return to her extra spicy garlic spinach: that she cast me as a goonda in her remake of Munnabhai MBBS.

She cheerfully agreed.

Noticed an interesting thing on the FoxSearchLight website . Tabu was listed with her real full name Tabassum Hasmi instead of just Tabu.
I have never seen her go by her real name before, why do you think that is?

One clarification: maximum respect to Jhumpa Lahiri for her hard work, her poise, and her success. She simply doesn't appeal to me on a literary level, a fate she shares with 95% of all writers.

Thanks for the link to Kal Penn's blog. I hope the movie does well.

"I have never seen her go by her real name before, why do you think that is?"

probably because it's a "western" movie and she's an unknown in this part of the world. but they have put tabu in parentheses next to her full name.

Yawn...another movie/book about confused Indian-Americans....hasn't this already been done before? And the same tired Indian-boy-wants-white-chick-but-encounters-CONSERVATIVE-Indian-family plot....Yawn

When it comes to being entertained by Indian American talent we seem to have a very low threshold. Think Kal Penn, Russell Peters ( and all those stupid desi stand ups ), Toral Mehta ( she was a featured guest at NET IP in Chicago ), DJ Rekha. This last one here recently won an Artist in Residency grant or something. I am not sure what her talent is. Besides playing the same shit (other people's with no value addition ) over and over again. More a hustler than a real talent. Ditto for productions like Bombay Dreams, American Desi, India Rising e.t.c

This last one here recently won an Artist in Residency grant or something. I am not sure what her talent is. Besides playing the same shit (other people's with no value addition ) over and over again.

At least you're not bitter.

What? Oh.

What? Oh

Pls explain? I got the bitter part though. Maybe I am just overanalyzing. Maybe I am just paranoid.

it's sad that we seem to expect any desi in a prominent position to act as ambassador of our little diaspora and radiate perfection. sigghhh, i blame the parents.

i can't wait to see this movie. right after Beerfest.

R.K. Narayan wrote better books in English than almost all of these desi-English authors...

I've not read Namesake, Suitable Boy, God of Small Things, and many, many other desi authored books that I probably should get around to reading. But big-ups to R.K. Narayan. My parents turned me on to his Malgudi stories and I've grown to love them.

Pls explain?

Sorry, JM. That's unfortunately one of the two things I don't do.

Tabu is a such a hot MILF in this

I have no doubt that this movie will do well with the artsy-fartsy non-brown American crowd

Um....really - what was the point of this post Ennis, except, it seems to put down Indians in India? You say this movie will do well with the "Artsy-Fartsy" crowd in America. Well it will do well the "Artsy-Fartsy" crowd in India too. Or does a nation of one billion people lack an "artsy fartsy" crowd. Yes, you are right, this won't be a mega-blockbuster with Kal-Penn's face on every McSoda plastic cup, but so-the-fornicate-what?

So a certain segment of America will like this film, but all of India will hate it. And that makes it a 'flop', because random strangers passing comments at the Taj Mahal, again represent the tastes of each and every billionth of India. Thanks for the stereotypes dude.

Or will you cop out now and say that you weren't putting India down, just saying that 'tastes' vary. And as for 'a realistic portrayal of life' have you ever been to an Indian wedding in India? Do you know how many weddings there are everyday? And that's just weddings. Yes, there is a lot of song and dance in India. Just because the men and women don't make their clothes and location change in an instant, doesn't mean they don't break out into song and dance at any given opportunity.

At least you're not bitter

I actually am because I am better! It's human!

When it comes to being entertained by Indian American talent we seem to have a very low threshold. Think Kal Penn, Russell Peters ( and all those stupid desi stand ups ), Toral Mehta ( she was a featured guest at NET IP in Chicago ), DJ Rekha. This last one here recently won an Artist in Residency grant or something. I am not sure what her talent is. Besides playing the same shit (other people's with no value addition ) over and over again. More a hustler than a real talent. Ditto for productions like Bombay Dreams, American Desi, India Rising e.t.c

And yet these are the people who will get all the accolades and attention. Take Jhumpa Lahiri for example. From what I have read that in The Namesake she tries to portrays Bengali culture in her book. Being a Bengali, I take offense in that, because what she is doing can be best classfied as pandering to white culture/audience. I wonder exactly how much she knows about Bengali culture herself, seeing that she was born abroad and spent all of her life there. For a person like this to try to portray Bengali, much less Indian, culture is disingenous at best. Which is why you get these typical stories about identity crisis whining and culture clashes from these new breed of so-called Indian authors. Stories like The Namesake have been done millions of times before, so there's nothing original about them anymore. The sad part is that true Indian writing will never be exposed nor accepted here. The Western audience wants pre-packaged writing comprised of stereotypical stories about Indians, which is why you get so many Westerners swooning over unoriginal authors like Ms. Lahiri. Give them stories about arranged marriages and conservative Indian families and you are instantly taken to the top of the New York Times bestseller list. I wonder how many of these people have heard of Rabindranath or Premchand? It's amusing to see NRIs getting orgasms over The Namesake and Kal Penn, who lacks in both looks and talent, and patting themselves in the back to see him with a "blonde" on screen. Not to mention Mira Nair, who along with Gurinder Chaddha, is part of the new breed of "let's package Indian culture so that Westerners will like it" type directors. Let's hope The Namesake will go away quickly.

About the indignation towards Ennis.

Why do people take everything the wrong way these days?

Take Jhumpa Lahiri for example. From what I have read that in The Namesake she tries to portrays Bengali culture in her book. Being a Bengali, I take offense in that, because what she is doing can be best classfied as pandering to white culture/audience. I wonder exactly how much she knows about Bengali culture herself, seeing that she was born abroad and spent all of her life there. For a person like this to try to portray Bengali, much less Indian, culture is disingenous at best

Amazing. That is word for word the same arguments that were being made against Brick Lane here in the UK. Just swap 'Monica Ali' for 'Jhumpa Lahiri' and word for word those words could be spoken by Syed Ali from Stepney.

Bengali women writers have it tough.

Amazing. That is word for word the same arguments that were being made against Brick Lane here in the UK. Just swap 'Monica Ali' for 'Jhumpa Lahiri' and word for word those words could be spoken by Syed Ali from Stepney.

Bengali women writers have it tough.

Ahh...Brick Lane, another classic "HEY WESTERNERS! Look at how Indian/Muslim culture oppresses women" book. They have been done before as well. Ask Taslima Nasreen, another Bengali woman author who has it tough, but probably has more literary prowess and experience in Indian culture than both Monica Ali and Jhumpa Lahiri.

Give them stories about arranged marriages and conservative Indian families and you are instantly taken to the top of the New York Times bestseller list

Actually I think I have a sneaking admiration for those writers who make it rich from pandering blatantly. If they do it, the whole Mango-Curry-Arranged Marriage-Culture Clash thing, and don't make money, then it's just tragic. But if you sell a million, I wonder.....

Anyway, I dont agree with your putting of The Namesake in that bracket. I think it was quite low key, with some strong moments, especially in the intimate moments between father and son. Not bad. Definitely not pandering.

About the indignation towards Ennis.

Why do people take everything the wrong way these days?

Er, if he cut down on the gratuitous condescension towards Indian movies and audiences, that might be a start?

Ennis, dude, I usually love your posts, but really, why would an Indian audience relate to the story of Namesake at all?
Besides, Indian audiences (justifiably, to some extent) perceive the general art-film circuit as a way for moviemakers to get awards out of showing how poor or exotic etc India is. I totally grant that Mira Nair is NOT that way.

Indian cinematic conventions are different, that's all. I refuse to entertain any comparison to Hollywood or French films or whatever. I view movies as a means of entertainment first, and art second, unlike European movie makers/audiences. And I see nothing wrong with either approach whatsoever. I would rather not see any Frenchification of Bollywood in my lifetime!

That being said, I loved the book, and totally look forward to The Namesake soon.

Are there any female Indian writers who are not wicked pandering witches to your knowledge, Fei?

You know, everyone says these things are stereotypes, but guess what? These issues and themes are real. It's not the themes that make a book worthy or unworthy in themselves, it's the treatment. Dismissing Monica Ali and Jhumpa Lahiri as Aunty Toms is just too simplistic. There are plenty of crappy writers out there like that, not very good writers who are full on to that mehndi-mango-sari cover type thing. You are right that this whole curry-sari-culture clash thing is like a genre. But I dont think Brick Lane or The Namesake fall into those categories. They're not masterpieces, but there's no way you can put them in the same bracket as Nisha Minhas or those other abominations.

Enis also seems to confuse Bollywood movies with Indian movies. Not that I disagree with him (her?) about Bollywood movies being crap.

I wonder exactly how much she knows about Bengali culture herself, seeing that she was born abroad and spent all of her life there. For a person like this to try to portray Bengali, much less Indian, culture is disingenous at best.

Because we all know that "people like this" are totally devoid of any knowledge of or respect for the culture of their parents/grandparents/ancestors. Also, just to nit-pick, much of The Namesake is specifically about Bengalis who were part of the diaspora, as were Lahiri's parents.

Are there any female Indian writers who are not wicked pandering witches to your knowledge, Fei?

you seem to be confused in the sense that you think that there are only "female Indian writers" in the West.

Stop condescending Indian audiences Ennis! You have riled them like a stingray off the Australian Coast!

Apologies for condescending tone, if any..... :-D

Not that I disagree with him (her?) about Bollywood movies being crap.

Er...gross generalization?

you seem to be confused in the sense that you think that there are only "female Indian writers" in the West.

Yaah. I'm really confused. I didnt know that there were male Indian writers in the West.

It's just that your guns were blazing on two very successful and quite talented female writers, you know.

Anyway, doesnt Tabu look MILF-style hot in this film?

That’s right - a realistic portrayal of life in two countries, and people wonder why nobody is dancing.

Maybe the people got it right. How can one be real without dancing?

Because we all know that "people like this" are totally devoid of any knowledge of or respect for the culture of their parents/grandparents/ancestors. Also, just to nit-pick, much of The Namesake is specifically about Bengalis who were part of the diaspora, as were Lahiri's parents.

You mean she has "knowledge of or respect for the culture of their parents/grandparents/ancestors"? I wonder, then, why she has the typical pandering-type plot in her book? Traditional (thus oppressive) Conservartive Indians vs. Liberal (thus better) Western-born Indians.

It seems that authors like Jhumpa Lahiri cannot think of plots differing from these lines...

It's just that your guns were blazing on two very successful and quite talented female writers, you know.

since when is successful = quality? Should I assume that you haven't heard about Dan Brown?

Er...gross generalization?

maybe I should have said post-1970s Bollywood movies....

You mean she has "knowledge of or respect for the culture of their parents/grandparents/ancestors"? I wonder, then, why she has the typical pandering-type plot in her book? Traditional (thus oppressive) Conservartive Indians vs. Liberal (thus better) Western-born Indians.

Lahiri's treatment and depiction of those dynamics are much more nuanced and complex than the black and white dichotomy you perceive.

But anyway, those issues do exist. For diaspora Indians these are important themes. You are saying just writing about them in the first instance makes her beyond the pale. That's so wrong. She is a more subtle writer than that.

since when is successful = quality? Should I assume that you haven't heard about Dan Brown?

No, don't bother assuming that. I think i've heard of him. Let me google his name, after I've done a search for 'male Indian writers in the West' ;)

Hey, you didnt really answer any of my points about her work and its literary value. She is successful as well as being a talented writer. Maybe it is that very success that irks you?

You are saying just writing about them in the first instance makes her beyond the pale.

Yikes! That's sure to bring the colorism brigade crawling out from under their rocks...

From what I have read that in The Namesake she tries to portrays Bengali culture in her book. Being a Bengali, I take offense in that, because what she is doing can be best classfied as pandering to white culture/audience. I wonder exactly how much she knows about Bengali culture herself, seeing that she was born abroad and spent all of her life there.

Dude, have you even read the book? (Of course, as a Bengali intellectual, you don't really need to read a book in order to diss it, right?) I don't remember a single explicit reference to 'Bengali' culture beyond the fact that the parents were from Calcutta. All the Bengaliness in the novel (very little of it) was pretty incidental. And there was no mango chutney for miles...

Besides, the book is completely from the perspective of an Indian-American guy. And definitely a 'probashi' Bengali (like myself, who grew up in Mumbai). It struck me as a pretty authentic presentation of that particular perspective of Indian/Bengali culture. One person's view, that's all. I don't remember it making generalizations like 'Indian culture is ...this or that'. The approach was more 'These are the experiences of one person with a specific background...make of it what you will'.

Yikes! That's sure to bring the colorism brigade crawling out from under their rocks

Razib, any figures or data on genetic DNA make up of diaspora authors???

Get on the case, Dawkins.

I'm rooting for the Tamil Brahmin Iyers! But whatever you say, don't say, "that's not fair." What counts as "fair" depends on how many Punjabis are in the neighborhood...

Back to arguing about the Namesake, you slackers!

Take Jhumpa Lahiri for example. From what I have read that in The Namesake she tries to portrays Bengali culture in her book. Being a Bengali, I take offense in that, because what she is doing can be best classfied as pandering to white culture/audience. I wonder exactly how much she knows about Bengali culture herself, seeing that she was born abroad and spent all of her life there. For a person like this to try to portray Bengali, much less Indian, culture is disingenous at best

Technophobic geek is right, the book is more focused on the experience of an desi guy growing up in America, the Bengali culture references are incidental to his story. She is not pandering to a white audience; this is one of those books that a white audience might enjoy, but ABDs can definitely relate to it a lot.

On another note, why would anyone expect this film to be a blockbuster in India? Would anyone expect a Bollywood film to be a huge hit in American theaters? I think this film will do moderately well here in the States, maybe not a blockbuster but I doubt it will be a flop.

Fei, you say that Lahiri's book is a pandering type of "Traditional (thus oppressive) Indians vs. Liberal (thus better) Western-born Indians." I'm confused because I didn't see this in The Namesake at all. Nor in Interpreter of Maladies. Did you read the book? It was quite sympathetic to the problems of the new immigrants as well as those of their son. The main character, Gogol, an American-born Indian, is ashamed of his name and changes it, but the readers aren't happy about this, since they know about the true story of his naming that goes back to his father's life in India. Gogol has relationships with people who are of Indian descent as well as people who aren't, and has various problems with both. His issues with his identity don't seem simplified or 'pandering' at all. In fact, they really rung true for me, which is a good indication that she is writing about what she knows best. At no point did I question whether Lahiri, being American-born, was qualified to write about the topic. Actually, that didn't surprise me at all since I don't think a Bengali-born, Bengali-raised author could possibly have written this book. What did surprise me was how well Lahiri, a woman, was able to write so believably from the point of view of a young man.

Would anyone expect a Bollywood film to be a huge hit in American theaters?

Maybe, in 10 or so years, like Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon and other Chinese movies, recent and even going back to Hong Kong made Bruce Lee/ martial art movies. It will be a while for Bollywood but that is the general idea.

I haven't read Namesake but have read her other stuff and her many interviews. She definitely draws into Bengali culture and experiences, that is OK. Her reporterie right now is quite limited, it may grow with time.

She is no Taslima in terms of life experiences and breadth of writing yet.

The movie will do moderate business in USA, and even in art house theaters in Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai. Shyam Benegal, Govind Nilihani, Ketan Mehta (I am not even including Satyajit Ray) were making make realistic movies from Bombay/ India even before Mira Nair started. I like Mira Nair though.

Dancing and music is an integral part of any Indian/ South Asian celebrations be it any religion.......ladies sangeet, baraat etc, therefore, bollywood is totally not off.

What did surprise me was how well Lahiri, a woman, was able to write so believably from the point of view of a young man.

That surprised me too, I give her lot of credit for attempting that and pulling that off.

What did surprise me was how well Lahiri, a woman, was able to write so believably from the point of view of a young man.

That reminds me of that memorable line from "As Good As It Gets" as delivered by Jack Nicholson :-D

Receptionist: How do you write women so well? Melvin Udall: I think of a man, and I take away reason and accountability.

Not to mention Aparna Sen, and

is Namesake in the same class as 36 Chowringhee Lane, a movie made in India in 1981 in English, and perhaps one of the most sensitive movie ever made from India/ Indian diaspora.

We'll see.

the book was a let down, and a movie is never as good as the book so ...

Good movies are hard to make. Great ones are...well, forget about it. It's talent, luck, a whole jumble of unintended consequences and spiritual energies. That stuff doesn't come with a schedule. It just shows up when it's good and ready.

Still, I think that India has three remarkable storytellers in Aparna Sen, Mira Nair and Deepa Mehta. Sen seems the most finished artist of the three, but in my opinion they're all doing very good work. Good and necessary.

Assuming that it comes out on the 20th, any mutineers in the NYC area want to check it out?

mira nair: not a huge fan, think she went over board with kama sutra, and wasn't into her films after that fiasco...
namesake: not a great book
brick lane: horrible book, can't understand the hype over ali...
tabu: amazing actress (anyone seen astitva?--good flick!)
kal penn: overrated, but cute

vikram:

That reminds me of that memorable line from "As Good As It Gets" as delivered by Jack Nicholson :-D

Receptionist: How do you write women so well? Melvin Udall: I think of a man, and I take away reason and accountability.

thanks for a great laugh.

That’s right - a realistic portrayal of life in two countries, and people wonder why nobody is dancing.

Why is the boy [Kal Penn] not dancing?

I don't know if Namesake will suffer quick death at the box office, because Water ran for a surprisingly long time in a lot of major cities AND tertiary markets. While I've already given the soapbox speech about how I felt about the book [if you missed it, stick your finger down your throat and you'll get similar results], The Namesake, I do enjoy Mira Nair's work immensely and hope that the artistic liberties she's taken in making her film are exactly the B-12 injection the story needs for a compelling translation to screen.

*Nods in agreement with Fei on comment 21* Ten props for Fei! (except for the R.K. Narayan bit - Sorry, but these stories about the small Indian life just don't get my fancy. Swami and Friends is fine, but the others... The English Teacher is especially boring)

The only things I've seen which are worse than Bollywood movies are Japanese television commercials.

Kobayashi's in rare form. I sense a George Dickel influence.

No song, no dance, no interest. this is the holy trinity of 'how to kill an indian movie'

otherwise known as a holy trifecta of 'how to get this bean to watch an indian flick'

shabash :)

Count this Kiwi chicky in too.

Fei et al, I'm a little troubled by the fact that you assume 'authentic experience' goes hand in hand with writing talent. I find Tasleema Nasreen's writing painful to read -- sloppy; embarrassing, even. I dearly wish someone would give her the services of a good editor for her birthday. It would mitigate the injustice of wasting so many trees on her prose.

Regarding experience, I don't recall anyone ever criticizing Dickens for writing about life in inner city London slums, despite the fact that he most certainly did not have first-hand experience of what it was like to be born, grow up, live and die in Spitalfields. The combined powers of research and imagination generally suffice for talented writers. I'm not going to say I think the world of Lahiri, but I do think that an author's personal experiences never (on their own) provide a legitimate basis for criticism of his or her work.

I'd just like to say Tabu is one of the better actresses from bollywood and deserving of any success that comes her way, as well as Irfan Khan. :D

Stop condescending Indian audiences Ennis! You have riled them like a stingray off the Australian Coast!

And that comment is so wrong! Even the Crocodile hunter has a family with two kids. Have a heart!He just died!

Thank you Simran. Taslima Nasreen is a TERRIBLE writer. I am all for her taking on the mullahs and for the causes she espouses, but her writing is a whole other matter. Having an 'authentic' desi experience doesn't make you a good writer. For a really good discussion of these issues of 'authenticity,' here is an essay by Vikram Chandra that I got off Jabberwock's blog. also, I haven't heard any of these authors claiming that they are representing 'real Indian experience' etc. They write about diasporic, mobile, and often upper-crust Indians. So sue them.

And that comment is so wrong! Even the Crocodile hunter has a family with two kids. Have a heart!He just died!

Bah! Enough of these public morals! Irwin had a good death. Spectacular, captured on camera, the death he'd been looking for all these years. Nothing wrong with the Snapper's comments.

Most of us will be curled up in bed and all wrinkly, and crapping in our nappies, when the Grim Reaper shows up. That, my friend, is the real tragedy.

And what is it with Panjabi-bashing on this blog? I caught only some of the previous interminable 'coloured' threads. Some serious stereotyping going on here about Panjabi-Bollywood-Northie choices, ideas, personalities etc--

maybe I should have said post-1970s Bollywood movies....

Fei, I'd agree with you upto 2000, but I'll defend Bollywood for the post- Dil Chahta Hai era.

Bah! Enough of these public morals! Irwin had a good death. Spectacular, captured on camera, the death he'd been looking for all these years. Nothing wrong with the Snapper's comments.

Most of us will be curled up in bed and all wrinkly, and crapping in our nappies, when the Grim Reaper shows up. That, my friend, is the real tragedy.

Go Steve!!!!

When it comes to being entertained by Indian American talent we seem to have a very low threshold.

Very true, because the choices are so few that I'm entertained simply by someone expressing the Indian American viewpoint in a public forum. Now, if you want to be entertained by a 20-40 year old white male, you've got your pick of 2/3 of Hollywood.

Yawn...another movie/book about confused Indian-Americans....hasn't this already been done before?

I think it speaks to the whole Hollywood system that an Indian American can only make it by playing up retread storylines and themes that have proven marketability...

I have no doubt that this movie will do well with the artsy-fartsy non-brown American crowd.

...and intentionally focusing appeal on a narrow niche audience. It's interesting that when talent isn't constrained by the old boy network, such as on the internet, you get things like Sepia Mutiny.

Um....really - what was the point of this post Ennis, except, it seems to put down Indians in India?

Now, here's an interesting question. As a proud American and foreign movie fanatic (and snob) I've had a frustration or two about a Bollywood system that is the world's most perfect machine for producing drivel. Now Hollywood might be racist, nepotistic, and unbelievably narcissistic but at least it has the good sense to get out of its own way occassionally and allow true talent to rise above the Beerfest rubble (like a lotus flower, beta).

Or does a nation of one billion people lack an "artsy fartsy" crowd.

No, but it does lack a system that can reliably produce a significant number of movies for this crowd.

what was the point of this post Ennis, except, it seems to put down Indians in India?

Just one more thing. I have to quote Anna here: Sepia Mutiny is for Indians, about Indians, by people who hate Indians - (sarcasm implied). Ah, a line that reads like Woody Allen.

Fei, I'd agree with you upto 2000, but I'll defend Bollywood for the post- Dil Chahta Hai era.

Chinai Seth, When was Sholay, Deewar, Yadoon ki Baraat, Pakeezah, Bobby, Namak Halal, Mr. India made - in 1970s and 80s.

When was Ankur made by Shyam Benegal? Google, my man. Or Junoon or Ardh Satya.

Don't forget Kalicharan. Saara sheher mujhe Loin ke naamse jaanta hai.

This film will be playing at the Toronto International Film Fest (TIFF) next week. Boo that I didn't score tickets for it, as this was the movie I had wanted to see the most. Any other Torontonian's attending the event? Wonder if Kal or Mira will make it to the screening.

It will also be playing at the Sixth Annual IAAC Film Festival in NYC on November 1st. Tickets (at $350 a pop!) appear to be available...

apologies... $350 is for the gala... just the screening will cost you just $100.

Re Fei @ 36: You might want to take a look at this Vikram Chandra's essay "The Cult of Authenticity", as it reads as an excellent counter arugument to what you have said in your comments. To qoute from a section that I had underlined in my softcopy:

"Be ruthlessly practical, like the bhais of Bombay, those CCTV-using, Glock-firing, Bholenath-worshipping gangsters. Do whatever it takes to get the job done. Use whatever you need. Swagger confidently through all the world, because it all belongs to you. And don’t worry about tradition. Whatever you do felicitously will be Indian. It cannot be otherwise. If Bholenath speaks to you, put him in your painting, or your story. The inevitable fact that some reader in New Jersey will find Bholenath’s tiger skin and matted hair "exotic" is wholly irrelevant. To be self-consciously anti-exotic is also to be trapped, to be censored. Be free. Give up nothing, and swallow everything. In your work, don’t be afraid of elephants and snakes and mystical India. If repetition and misuse have emptied out an image, a metaphor, a trope, rendered it void of meaning and substance, your job as an artist then is to be wily; you must slide sideways under the metaphor, take it onto your skin and inhabit it, then twist it, mangle it, pervert it, until it becomes your own and therefore comes alive again. You have to repossess what was once yours, what is still yours. To give up a metaphor because someone else has abused it is reflexive stupidity; you are again letting "them" take the initiative, letting them decide what is still yours and what is not. You are giving up ground. India is full of elephants and snakes and mysticism, and also cell phones and nuclear weapons and satellites. Give up nothing, and swallow everything."

While I didn't like "The Namesake" (it hit many false notes for me), I think Ms. Lahiri (or for that matter any other author) can write about whatever culture they want (it's fiction dammit!) - also by this measure Joseph Conrad and Graham Greene would have had to sit and twiddle their thumbs for their fiction took stuff from all over!

Fei said:

"Yawn...another movie/book about confused Indian-Americans....hasn't this already been done before? And the same tired Indian-boy-wants-white-chick-but-encounters-CONSERVATIVE-Indian-family plot....Yawn"

over 25 years ago, someone much like yourself probably said the same thing when they first heard that shitty garage band play whose name started with the letter 'M', citing their sound as thunderously unoriginal and hackneyed at best; a weak emulation of a formula already mastered by the likes of Black Sabbath and Judas Priest.

Metalli-WHAT?

personally, Lahiri bores me to tears; i have more fun hiding my wife's jewelry until she becomes so ridiculously peeved that it's only a matter of time before she's chasing me around the house with a garam chimta. plot line schmotline.

However, this is a movie that will do well in the states but flop “back home” in India. India loves movies like Krrish, and despite annual announcements of a new Bollywood realism, I doubt that Indian audiences will take to The Namesake.

That's not fair, you cannot judge Indian movies based on watching bollywood movies. Bollywood doesn't represent entire Indian movie Industry.
I presume you never watched Bengali or any of the south Indian movies.

Every year number of artsy-fartsy films are made in regional languages and most of them are successful in south India.
Here are my favourites in recent years
Malayalam: Perumazhakkalam, Akale, Udayananu Thaaram
Tamil : Autograph, Pithamagan, Kadhal
Telugu: Aithe, Anukokunda Oka Roju

Actually came in late from desipundit, so didn't read all the comments, so not sure if someone ahs already mentioned this:
The reasons mentioned for Indians not liking the movie maybe a little right, but not all. The main reasons why the movie may not do well, and that's the same as 'why I won't see the movie' are firstly, I thought the book was plain, in fact below ordinary, it had no story and rambled too much, and secondly, most Indians will not identify with the so-called angst of gogol and problems that migrants face, which forms such an important part of the story.

Who cares if those in the Indian subcontinent will like this movie? Isn't this blog about the 2nd generation Indians abroad (NRIs)? Personally, regardless of my feelings towards Kal Penn, I think the movie will move several 2nd generation Desis. While Mira Nair's book was beautifully written, I am always skeptical about how movies can live up to the standards of novels. However, I am glad that there is a movie that we as the children of immigrants can relate to on a very personal level.

Who cares if those in the Indian subcontinent will like this movie? Isn't this blog about the 2nd generation Indians abroad (NRIs)? Personally, regardless of my feelings towards Kal Penn, I think the movie will move several 2nd generation Desis. While Mira Nair's book was beautifully written, I am always skeptical about how movies can live up to the standards of novels. However, I am glad that there is a movie that we as the children of immigrants can relate to on a very personal level.

"most Indians will not identify with the so-called angst of gogol and problems that migrants face, which forms such an important part of the story."

Hmmm... but they always identify with filthy rich old men pretending to be college students, dancing on the slopes of the Swiss alps with filthy rich women. Interesting. People definitely need to read this post by Uma.

Personally, I wish Gogol was written as a more f**ked up character by Lahiri. Would have been so much more interesting.

Hmmm... but they always identify with filthy rich old men pretending to be college students, dancing on the slopes of the Swiss alps with filthy rich women.

NO!
We all went to see Superman. Think we tried to fly? Come on...

Neale-

Funny you should say that. When I went to Lahiri's Namesake reading at Cody's in Berkeley, a guy in the audience brought up a similar point--that is, that the novel steers pretty clear of a lot of issues that most second gen Indian Americans face growing up in America. He asked why she avoided this conflict throughout the novel, and needless to say, she wasn't too happy with the question. I think her response was somewhere along the lines of a flustered "I'm sorry you felt that way." (Anyone there remember this incident in more detail?). While I think Lahiri has a lot of talent as a writer, in-depth and thought-provoking character development don't quite strike me as her strong points.

While I think Lahiri has a lot of talent as a writer, in-depth and thought-provoking character development don't quite strike me as her strong points.

I find it so interesting that so many people engage in Lahiri-bashing! Granted, the sight of her in a recent Time magazine with blonde highlights and coloured contacts did not make me want to send out warm, fluffy vibes to her. But I think she just had an awesome sense of timing, she captured and distilled this moment when the issues underlying The Namesake were on so many people's minds. Remember when Manish wrote his tribute to the opening passage of the novel? The number of people who recognised it instantly shows that she does have an impact and that her novel certainly did.

I enjoy her quiet style and her economic, crisp, clean prose.

There are better writers, but there will always be better writers. A v wise man once said 'Life would be a quiet forest if the only birds who sang were the best.'

Sorry up too late mate, I think I might have been staying up too late meself. Think we just agreed on the same point! Guess my comments were directed at the people who keep knockin' back the Jhumpa. Apologies.

And I'm glad CHICKPEA :-), that I wasn't the only one confused by the fuss over Brick Lane. Going ice skating in a sari at the end...wtf?...

@Witnwisdumb, what you are talking about is escapist cinema, which is, I think, different from the genre 'Namesake' would fall in, just my opinion. As Neale pointed out, we also see Superman and all such stuff and they are a hit in India too. Such movies, need not have identifiable characters or a taut, coherent storyline. Films like 'the Namesake' need all those to run, case in point Omkara, Being Cyrus, etc.
So,to solely predict that the Namesake will not run in India because it does not conform to the Indian format of movie-making, leaves out other, more pertinent reasons, i.e. the subject matter and a hardly-there story.

Novels do not change my thinking. They only make me think. But The Namesake did make me painfully aware of what the final chapter of my life in America would be, and that's when I decided: a) I do not want to die in a lonely motel room somewhere in America; b) I do want to spend my final days in India. After this epiphany, brought on by the book, I promptly made a trip to India and bought a house. No, I am still years away from retiring, but hey, if people can buy cemetery lots years in advance, I can at least buy a house.

The Namesake was set in the Indian/Bengali diaspora, but I felt it was about transplanted and reformulated cultures and people in a much broader sense. I am dying to see the movie. A Freudian slip.

I wish Gogol was written as a more f**ked up character by Lahiri. Would have been so much more interesting.

I guess it depends on whether one wants to see fellow Western-born Indian men portrayed as relatively "normal" or with all kinds of psychological issues. The Buddha of Suburbia is probably a good choice for people who prefer the latter. What fun those of us in the UK had when the book and, later, the television dramatisation came out; finally a British (South) Asian character in a high-profile lead role, portrayed as romantically successful, and a world away from all the usual stereotypes about Indians which had been prevalent in the British media until then. Unfortunately, he was so screwed up that most of us couldn't identify with him at all beyond our common ethnicity and the British locales portrayed. But the story was certainly entertaining enough, especially at a time when desi faces were very rare indeed on British television (and, in terms of 2nd-Gen characters, also still relatively rare in high-profile Western literature).

I suspect that The Namesake will be a hit amongst the Western-focused urban elites back in India although not amongst the rest of the viewing population there. It will also be successful amongst 2nd-Gen desis in the West, both in America and in the United Kingdom.

*************************************************

Chandi,

And what is it with Panjabi-bashing on this blog? I caught only some of the previous interminable 'coloured' threads. Some serious stereotyping going on here about Panjabi-Bollywood-Northie choices, ideas, personalities etc--

It's a factor of the different regional composition of American South Asians, certainly compared with the United Kingdom. This kind of nonsense is practically non-existent amongst 2nd-Gen Indians in Britain (and people making such remarks would be rapidly torn apart, considering the "northie" dominance of the desi population here), apart from amongst "armchair khilafat" types and some (by no means all) Pakistanis here who obviously have their own baggage regarding their cousins from across the border. The bukwaas sometimes posted on SM is a reflection of the prejudices and hangups prevalent amongst some of the commenters, and I don't regard it as any kind of negative reflection on the core bloggers/"Mutineers" (especially as several of them are of Punjabi extraction themselves). A firmer hand by the blog's moderators with regards to immediately stamping on some of the "reverse-racism" would certainly be a good idea, although I know that in practice this is difficult, as the Mutineers have their own social and professional lives taking up much of their time, which is why some stupid behaviour unfortunately slips through the net on occasion.

He asked why she avoided this conflict throughout the novel, and needless to say, she wasn't too happy with the question. I think her response was somewhere along the lines of a flustered "I'm sorry you felt that way."

You know, I'm doing a lot of defending of Lahiri here, and I just want to say that I'm not that a massive fan of her work, although I think she is a talented and a subtle writer, but I can understand why she was pissed off with being asked a question like that. She writes a novel about one thing, as fully as she can, and people start berating her for not including other things in it to their liking. I mean, you just can't win, can you? If Shakespeare had been alive and done readings some Danish exchange student would stand up and tell him off for not depicting a certain hilarious incident that is famous amongst Danish students who studied abroad and why he couldnt be more enthusiastic about the architecture of Elsinore castle. He'd be like, "Hey Shakespeare! Why you pandering to Londoners with stereotypes of lazy and gloomy Danes! We are fun people too, you know! You just didnt represent us accurately! We still sing viking songs, you know, we're crazy people when you get to know us! We're not one dimensional like you make out!"

Granted, the sight of her in a recent Time magazine with blonde highlights and coloured contacts did not make me want to send out warm, fluffy vibes to her.

What??? Lahiri blonded her hair and wore colored contacts?? Seriously? Is the picture Online? Now that really is a case of colorism. She must be a wannabe-Punjabi.

Oh God I can see this thread moving in another direction altogether yikes Mr Kobayashi look what you started.....

He'd be like, "Hey Shakespeare! Why you pandering to Londoners with stereotypes of lazy and gloomy Danes! We are fun people too, you know! You just didnt represent us accurately! We still sing viking songs, you know, we're crazy people when you get to know us! We're not one dimensional like you make out!"

Wow, I thought I was the only one who wrote/thought of things like that ie signs that one either has copious amounts of free time or is so excellent at procrastinating that they explain a point in waaaay too much detail. As a Lahiri character would solemnly say, 'It's good to know I'm not alone' :)

Wow, I thought I was the only one who wrote/thought of things like that ie signs that one either has copious amounts of free time or is so excellent at procrastinating that they explain a point in waaaay too much detail. As a Lahiri character would solemnly say, 'It's good to know I'm not alone' :)

You can never include enough detail in an anecdote when you're bored and pretending to work :)

Red Snapper,

What??? Lahiri blonded her hair and wore colored contacts?? Seriously? Is the picture Online? Now that really is a case of colorism.

Yes, Ms Lahiri is in blatant self-denial and self-hatred regarding her ethnicity, and is a fully paid-up member of the global Punjabi-Whitey-Coconut/Oreo Supremacy Nexus and Northie/Gauri Beauty Conspiracy. Stone the harlot for perpetuating such oppressive ideas amongst the poor, huddled NRI masses ;)

On a more serious note, I think the complaining in some quarters about her writing (which you have been refuting on this thread) may be due to the lack of sufficiently high-profile desis in the United States, and the perceived negative attitude towards South Asians within the American media and mainstream population as a whole. Some people are understandably (albeit not necessarily justifiably) going to be a little touchy about these matters. Remember how some Asians in Britain were similarly hypersensitive when Goodness Gracious Me started, as it was accused of "making us all look bad". However, I do agree with the accusations towards Gurinder Chadha.

Things may have changed in Britain over the past decade, but it wasn't too long ago that Asians here were similarly jumpy about anything which would (actually or theoretically) reflect negatively on them from the perspective of the mainstream population.

PS Red Snapper -- your ongoing comments about the alleged MILFness of Tabu are very dodgy indeed, especially as she's in full Aunty Mode in that picture ;)

Dodgy, dodgy stuff....*Jai shaking head*

Lahiri blonded her hair and wore colored contacts??

It's possible some misguided graphics person lightened Ms. Lahiri's hair and eyes; that sort of thing happens a lot. Jessica Simpson and Britney Spears have had their brown eyes turned blue on magazine covers, for example.

I think Asians are still the same in the UK Jai. Just look at the response of some people to Brick Lane. Plus, I kind of agree with them to a certain extent. There are some things that make me irrational too, like when you read certain writers, or watch a Gurinder Chadha film, for some reason it makes me come out in a rash. Just look at the cover of The Interpreter of Maladies in the news tab which does a disservice to her. So its not that those things are wrong, I just think they're wrong about Jhumpa Lahiri who is a better writer than the usual second rate pandering type.

I read the book a few months ago. Warning-this novel can be really depressing if you are at a low point in your life. I wasn't at a particularly happy stage then and this really put me down in the dumps.

Sigh, don't understand all this Lahiri-bashing (cicatrix, where be you nowadays?). At least for my English-lit-type friends, it seems like they expect EVERY Indian-diaspora novel to be written in a Rushdiesque way - Indians have no sense of time and think in fundamentally different ways and all that. Not to take away from Rushdie, but really, I do think it's OK to write a chronologically straightforward novel with a simple story, no?

I don't think anyone, including Lahiri herself, makes any claims for the novel being a superlative masterpiece of literature. What I liked about it was it seemed to be very faithful to presenting the experience of a small set of people, a single family, and it gave me the feeling that she was writing about a lot of real experiences. I actually liked the 'rambling' stream-of-consciousness style coz it drew me in. The book didn't seem to try and hammer any generalizations about any larger community and I did not make any just from reading it.

Another thing I liked immensely was her courage, in a way, to actually have a male protagonist, going against the usual grain of female characters who have to be 'rescued' from Indian culture.

that is, that the novel steers pretty clear of a lot of issues that most second gen Indian Americans face growing up in America.

Well, too bad that particular dude's issues were not covered. Maybe in the next book...

>> doubt that Indian audiences will take to The Namesake.

Why should they? :d - namesake is afterall a story about immigrants, and if mira nair has done half a good job of the nuances lahiri conveys, it will be appreciated, only by immigrants. Though one can argue that the emotions and story of the book are universal, basic premise of the book can be related to by immigrants only. Thus, the book to begin with itself had a niche segment to deal with - it would not appeal to americans too much because they haven't lived that life, nor to desis back home, because they havent lived it either :) - I would rather want this movie to be true to the book rather than try to become a "universal" story.

And knowing Mira Nair, she screws up big time, almost always. I find it so totally unncessary that the story had to move to New York instead of Boston, and that Aashima had to be a singer in the movie!

Supremus