FLASHBACK: About The Namesake

The Namesake (film)

And now, it's time to revisit some of my memories in the past, this is the kind of movie I just watched while I was in Seattle Central Community College during my ESL 098 days...

I watched the movie adaptation of the book titled, The Namesake and it turned out to be great. As for me, watching film adaptations of the book makes them easy to understand and easy to learn what is in store for them. I strongly agree that watching the movie version of The Namesake is much more preferable than reading the entire Namesake book and I am glad that I saw this book come to life as a major motion picture from FOX Searchlight.

Although I find that this Namesake movie is more interesting to watch than reading the Namesake book, I find that there are differences from both the movie and the book and it would be preferable for me to list in my top three differences.

First, there was a scene that Gogol’s younger sister, Sonia, has an annaprasan, or rice ceremony. Like I said, annaprasan is a rice ceremony and it is a formal ceremony involves on the consumption of solid food. It also helps to predict their child’s future. I did not see Gogol’s annaprasan in the movie, only Sonia is.

Second, where is Ruth? In the movie, it only features two of Gogol Ganguli’s love interest; first is Maxine, and the last is Moushumi. This movie supposed to feature Gogol’s love interest, Ruth, in order to make it more interesting. Since the producers did not put the Ruth chapter on the film, I guess that it is best to read the book and see for myself. At least, I truly understand how the relationship between Gogol and Ruth feels like; they were lovers, then, they argue when Ruth returned to the United States, and avoiding each other from now on. Positively, I understand the Maxine chapter and the Moushumi chapter of the Namesake movie.

Lastly, who is Pierre? In the Moushumi chapter of the Namesake movie, they did not mention the names Graham and Dmitri. In the book, Gogol realized that Moushumi cheated him because of someone named Dmitri, but in the movie, Gogol was cheated by Moushumi because of the book she received from someone named Pierre. Who is Pierre anyway? What just happened? Well, despite different naming, it all goes according to the book.

Despite some of the differences happened, I think the Namesake movie followed the same path as the original Namesake book. I find it very understanding and helpful watching the Namesake movie and differentiate both the movie and the book itself.

Movie available at: http://www.amazon.com/The-Namesake/dp/B0011Y13YG/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1332052063&sr=8-2

Book available at: http://www.amazon.com/The-Namesake-Novel-Jhumpa-Lahiri/dp/0618485228/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1332052063&sr=8-1