And the book came alive....

I love to read and " The Namesake" by Jhumpa Lahiri is one of my all time favorites.

So, naturally i was exteremely excited about seeing this beautiful book translated onto screen and for the Ganguli's world to come alive.

It turned out to be a fabulous movie!

The author must be really proud of Mira Nair because she was able to retain the essence of the book. It must be a very tough task to turn a book into a movie. Every word is important and then to choose and show the right scenes, establish links and also try to touch the hearts of the audience.

What i loved even more about the movie was the use of Bengali. I have seen endless movies where the gujrati or the begali just talk in english making there characters a tade bit artificial. The use of Bengali made the film very real and easy to relate to.

I recently read a blog entry about how it is the little lies that hurt celebreties and not the huge controversies. A similar analogy can be drawn here.
For an avid fan of the book it is the lack of attention to the smaller details of the book that pinch slightly.

It did disturb me that Ashima Ganguli ( played by Tabu) didnt wear a Parrot green sari when she meets Ashok for the first time( It's purple in the movie) or that Ashok Ganguli's shoes are black and white and not brown as in the book.

That Gogol decides to go to Yale first and then makes a decision about being an architect ( it obviously was vice versa in the book) was just weird.

What I didnt like most was the character of Moushmi and the omission of most of Gogol's part in the book. For me it was as much Gogol's story as it was Ashima's ....

What is strange is when people claim that the movie was better than the book!

If you ask me a movie can never be better than the book. All those who think otherwise are just pretending to have read the book...

The following is the quote the book starts with. I would have loved it if they had used it in the film too.

"The reader should realize himself that it could not have happened otherwise,
and that to give him any other name was quite out of the question. "

- Nikoloi Gogol, "The Overcoat"

I am Thinking of....

a) Section 2(1)(zc) of The Information Technology Act,2000

b) How good "Namesake" the movie is going to be

c) The song Paint it Black and how it describes my mood

d) Who will win American Idol this year

e) What's mum cooking for dinner

f) How badly I am going to flunk the Computer Practical

g) How i would love to meet Gandhi

h) The freaky weather

i) Driving a car

The Departed

A dreary thursday morning,
A fantastic report card
A Board exam
Mere oblivion
A phone call from hell
and then the wait
A pit in the stomach
A teary eye
Three shattered kids
A destroyed home
The horrible journey
A whirlpool of memories
of days gone by,
of happiness that was once ours
The haunting dreams
of lonely days
The scary future
The uncertainity
Yet
There will be another morning
a hint of a smile
Till then we mourn
The departed

YOU CAN ONLY WAKE UP SOMEONE WHO IS SLEEPING,

NOT ONE WHO IS PRETENDING TO!

I SPEND MY TIME LOOKING FORWARD TO THE PAST