NAMESAKE: Starring Irfan Khan, Tabu, Kal Penn, Jacinda Barret, Zuleikha Robinson. Direction: Mira Nair.

With a prelude of a man reading Nikhial Gogol and a declaration that books are the best tourist venture, you realise that this is not the run of the mill stuff. This is my first experience with Mira Nair. The narration grows on you. Though set in the United States there is a British feel to the film.

The story is about “cross over emotions” Ashoke( Irfan Khan) marries Ashima (Tabu) and brings her from tradition Kolkotta to a flat in the U.S. The new bride has to wade through a different system. A system in fact. Cocooned in her won world she is still her self and is not easily absorbed into the new scenario.

Years, time tide hardly tells on the shell. She lives on.. mothers two children and becomes a silent spectator of their lives. The next gen kids in the US are hardly sensitive to the culture of their parents and find the indiscernible wall. Old cultural moorings and instinctive ethos call for adjustment from the couple.

The first child Gogol grows up in a western school conscious of a name not popular but insists on retaining it till many years later chooses to change it to Nikhil. There is a small story of why Ashoke names his son Gogol. He is reading The Overcoat by the Russian writer when he is a victim of a rail accident of which he is a survivor. It is on this trip that he is advised to go out of India and see the world. Thus he sees googol as the symbol of his life.

Just when everything is fine- Gogol ( Kal Penn) brings home his western girl friend Maxi (Jacinda Barret) to meet his parent. The cultural shock notwithstanding the meet is pleasant. Tragedy strikes the family in the most unexpected hour. How the family copes up with the tragedy and get life back on the rails is what the rest of the film is about.

Thankfully the film is not a comparative statement of cultures. It is their juxtapositioning. Just a week ago the audience was treated to a tongue in cheek comparison of the two worlds. This is about their coexistence. Marvellously texted the film moves very slowly. Simply because tales are told in a hurry life is experienced in a leisurely manner.

What stands out in the film is that not once is there a pointed stance on anything. It is about space and a reason in the life of every individual. Totally bereft of moral policing the film is simply about life and simply about life of simple people. Fine performances from Kal Penn as the guy in a dilemma and Irfan Khan as the father add glory to the narration.

The best thing about the film is doubtlessly Tabu. Amazing actress. She reiterates her place in the world of our cinema. Very Special. Very Very Special. She is like Daffodils in the midst of cacti. Not surprising that she is not a great favourite at the box office where the Rani s and Aishwaryas rule. When the history of our cinema is discussed she is sure to find a place of pride alongside her famous aunt. That is a major achievement. The film somewhere belongs to her and her understanding or capacity to interpret an understanding of life.