For all of us who enoyed, Salaam Bombay and Monsoon Wedding, Mira Nair's new film, "The Namesake" is racking up plenty of critical accalaim. People Magazine chose the film as it's pick of the week and gave it three and a half our of four stars.

Just an excerpt from this week's People "The Namesake, a moving family drama from Indian-born Mira Nair (Monsoon Wedding) is filled with many such beautifully realized moments. Baed on a novel by Pulitzer prize winning author Jhumpa Lahiri, the film follows a couple (Indian stars Irfan Khan and Tabu) as they settle in New York after an arranged marriage back home in Calcutta. Finding her way in the New World proves most challenging for the shy bride who is torn between old country traditions and the challenges of modern life. As a South Aian mother struggling to understand her American-born children, Tabu is radiant and Penn is affecting as a suburban son who eventually reconnects with his heritage. Along the way, Namesake dfetly explores what it means to belong."

This is not being shown in theatres here so I"m anxiously awaiting it's video release. If any of you have the opportunity to see it, please do let me know how it is. Unfortunately I live in an area that is not very open to "cultural" films unless they magnify the negative stereotypes that permeate our society.

I LOVE Mira Nair's films, and am really happy that this one too has great reviews! Looking foward to seeing it, but who knows when. I've already saved it to my Blockbuster online queue but don't know when it will become availalbe.

I saw the movie " The Namesake, it was OK, the only thing i didn't like much, a lot of foreign movies tend to portray american as incensitive, ignorant or so forth.

In this movie the white girl he was dating loves him dearly but when his dad passed away he kinda withdraw himself from her, she had her own way of trying to support him, but due to cultural differences he should try to teach her the custom, what's behind those ceremonies then she would understand where he's coming from. At the end he ends up marrying a Bangali girl who already had multiple affairs, and cheated on him in the marriage. Was that girl much better than the white girl I DON"T THINK SO but in the culture others might thing otherwise.

Nikita, That's the beauty of movies like Namesake, the cayuse us to have intelligent dialogue across cultural lines. I have to admit though that i didn't read your whole post because I haven't seen the movie yet and you were telling soooo much of the plot. I want to keep a few surprises. However, you bring u a good point, one that I think Mira Nair strives to address in each of her movies. Movies that make you talk are the good lasting memorable ones with a message for us all.