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June 25, 2006
Books on the Big Screen
I saw the trailer to Mira Nair's adaptation of Jhumpa Lahiri's The Namesake, though the movie is due out in the Fall. My interest is definitely piqued. I've always liked Mira Nair as a director and after "Vanity Fair," her talent & audience is diversifying and expanding.
Kal Penn is a good choice for Gogol Ganguly because he has that desi-boy-next-door look. By the way, just checking his bio online and he's got "Superman" on there!
I liked "The Namesake" as a nice read and Lahiri is supremely detail-oriented, which can be good and bad. However, I found it dark, depressing and misleading. Life in the US is not that miserable. The sun does shine once in awhile.
That's why it looks like Nair can add color and life, while Kal Penn can add authenticity to it. As long as Nair doesn't throw in an irrelevant Bollywood dance number like in "Vanity Fair," it should be fine.
By the way, I don't know what happened to "Mistress of Spices." The hype for that movied was whirlwind and then just blew away. While I enjoyed reading "MoS" years ago when it was released, I don't think it could have been a good movie. It would naturally conjure comparisons to "Like Water For Chocolate." "The Namesake" has more possibilities.
Posted by Ashini J. Desai at June 25, 2006 07:13 AM
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Posted by: Anonymous at June 25, 2006 07:13 AM
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