More Casting for Nair's 'Namesake'

Principal photography is underway.

By: Brad Brevet
Published: Tuesday, March 29th 2005 at 2:47 AM

In an article announcing the start of production for Mira Nair's next film, The Namesake we also get a more indepth plotline as well as a wealth of new cast announcements.

First off the film stars Kal Penn and is based on the best-selling novel of the same name by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jhumpa Lahiri, the screenplay adaptation was penned by Sooni Taraporevala.

The film follows the story of the Ganguli family whose move from Calcutta to New York evokes a lifelong balancing act to meld to a new world without forgetting the old. Though parents Ashoke and Ashima (Irfan Khan, Tabu) long for the family and culture that enveloped them in India, they take great pride in the opportunities their sacrifices have afforded their children. Paradoxically, their son Gogol (Kal Penn) is torn between finding his own unique identity without losing his heritage. Even Gogol's name represents the family's journey into the unknown.

Nair talked about her most personal project to date and said, "The Namesake encompasses in a deep humane way the tale of millions of us who have left one home for another, who have known what it means to combine the old ways with the new world, who have left the shadow of our parents to find ourselves for the first time."

Joining Penn on the film, the supporting cast includes Irfan Khan, Tabu, Jacinda Barrett, Zuleikha Robinson, Glenne Headley and Brooke Smith.

The Namesake will be distributed by Fox Searchlight Pictures and will be shot in New York and Calcutta by Director of Photography Frederick Elmes (Kinsey, The Ice Storm).