Backdrop fallback

The Namesake

The Namesake

Share

The Namesake

"Two Worlds. One Journey."

2006

2h 2m

6.8(194 votes)

Drama

Overview

The American-born son of Indian immigrants strives to fit in among his fellow New Yorkers despite his family's unwillingness to let go of their traditional ways.

Where to Watch

Stream

JioHotstar

Links & Resources

Social & External

Production Companies

Fox Searchlight Pictures

Mirabai Films

UTV Motion Pictures

The people behind it

Cast & crew

10 featured cast members

Starring

Kal Penn

Kal Penn

Gogol / Nikhil

Irrfan Khan

Irrfan Khan

Ashoke Ganguli

Tabu

Tabu

Ashima Ganguli

Jacinda Barrett

Jacinda Barrett

Maxine Ratliffe

Zuleikha Robinson

Zuleikha Robinson

Moushumi Mazoomdar

Ruma Guha Thakurta

Ruma Guha Thakurta

Ashoke's Mother

Sabyasachi Chakraborty

Sabyasachi Chakraborty

Ashima's Father

Sahira Nair

Sonali Ganguli

Supriya Choudhury

Supriya Choudhury

Ashima's Grandmother

Jhumpa Lahiri

Jhumpa Lahiri

Jhumpa Mashi

Creative team

Directed by: Mira Nair
Written by: Sooni Taraporevala
Produced by: Lydia Dean Pilcher
Lori Keith Douglas

Similar Movies

Inka

Inka becomes an outcast to her small home town when she comes into conflict with the local priest. She is convinced she is right, but is being right worth the lonely fight?

The Allure of Tears

The Allure of Tears

The Romance film by Barbara Wong tells three touching love stories which are named the :three teardrops.” Each story portrayed by different actors explores the hidden emotions, confusion and desire of today’s young people.

Gilaneh

Gilaneh

A mother's courage, hardship, and love, in times of war. In 1988, during the Iran-Iraq war, Gilane escorts her pregnant daughter, Maygol, from the relative calm of their village, Espili, into war-torn Tehran to search for Maygol's husband, Rahman. The journey is arduous and what they find when they reach the capital is dismaying and frightening. Fifteen years later, as another war begins in Iraq, Gillane is at home caring for her son Ismael, who suffers from epilepsy, a byproduct of war. As she cares for him, she hopes for a visit from the doctor and from another daughter, Atefah. "Better be a dog than a mother," she says.

Obaba

Obaba

A rural drama set in Obaba, a mythical region in northern Spain, where a young filmmaker struggled to capture the feel of the area, which in turn leads to a wealth of self-discovery.

Eva's Eye

Eva's Eye

While Eva Magnus and her daughter, Jenny, are taking a walk, they discover a dead body floating along the riverside. Eva runs to the nearest phone booth and pretends to call the police. Then she leaves the body for someone else to find. Why? Konrad Sejer, the police officer investigating the case, links it to another unsolved murder of a woman killed in her bed. A woman that used to be a childhood friend of Eva Magnus.

The Power and the Glory

The Power and the Glory

Based on Graham Greene's novel about a flawed but devoted priest in 1930s Mexico who attempts to perform his duties while eluding a police lieutenant determined to capture him.

Avec Kim

Avec Kim

After a typical day at the garage, a young mechanic swaps her stained overalls for a leather ensemble—as she shifts gears into a different kind of routine. Driving through bustling Paris, she helps a passerby cross the street, delivers plants to a hardware store, and picks up an enigmatic passenger.

The Lighthouse

The Lighthouse

Lena returns to her home in a remote, war-ravaged Armenian village to try and persuade her grandparents to leave with her for safety in Moscow.

Ginza Cosmetics

Ginza Cosmetics

A few days in the life of a quiet geisha, single mother of a smart young boy, in the lively Tokyo quarter of Ginza. A woman devoted to others' needs, she'll end by taking part herself in one of the many disguises of Ginza.

Magonia

Magonia

A sea faring father, a man living on the edge of mental sanity, periodically sees his young son. During the visits, the father tells the boy stories, exotic as well as close to home, about Magonia. This is a mythical place where clouds represent impossible dreams and unfulfilled desires. But the characters in this imaginary place all curiously resemble people now living near the father.

The Wonderers

The Wonderers

Set against the backdrop of a summer on the French Riviera, the Roussier family navigates the severe disability of the youngest daughter, 13-year-old Bertille, while her older sister, 17-year-old Marion, seeks refuge in a relationship with an older boy.

Between Us

Between Us

A New York couple and their Midwestern friends find that drastic changes have occurred in their respective lives since they last met.

The Education of Mohammad Hussein

The Education of Mohammad Hussein

THE EDUCATION OF MOHAMMAD HUSSEIN is an intimate look at how the largest Muslim community in America responds to the provocations of an anti-Islamic preacher. Through the eyes of children, the film examines what it is like to come of age as a Muslim in the United States ten years post 9/11.

Inocente

Inocente

INOCENTE is a personal and vibrant coming of age story about a young artist's determination never to surrender to the bleakness of her surroundings. At 15, Inocente refuses to let her dream of becoming an artist be caged by being an undocumented immigrant forced to live homeless for the last nine years. Color is her personal revolution and its sweep on her canvases creates a world that looks nothing like her own dark past. INOCENTE is both a timeless story about the transformative power of art and a timely snapshot of the new face of homelessness in America: children. The challenges are staggering, but the hope in her story proves that the hand she has been dealt does not define her, her dreams do.

Snap

Snap

While Sandra opens up to a documentary film crew, flashbacks show her teenage son, Stephen, mysteriously kidnapping a toddler, and holding him captive. Eventually, the stories intersect to explain the abduction and the family's three-generation legacy of abuse in this mesmerizing psychological drama.

Loss of Feeling

Loss of Feeling

In an unnamed English-speaking capitalist land, a young engineer invents inexhaustible giant robots to replace the fragile human workers on high-volume assembly-lines, and soon finds his invention co-opted by the military-industrial complex.

Clemency

Clemency

Years of carrying out death row executions have taken a toll on prison warden Bernadine Williams. As she prepares to execute another inmate, Bernadine must confront the psychological and emotional demons her job creates, ultimately connecting her to the man she is sanctioned to kill.

The Farewell

The Farewell

A headstrong Chinese-American woman returns to China when her beloved grandmother is given a terminal diagnosis. Billi struggles with her family's decision to keep grandma in the dark about her own illness as they all stage an impromptu wedding to see grandma one last time.

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit

Jack Ryan, as a young covert CIA analyst, uncovers a Russian plot to crash the U.S. economy with a terrorist attack.

Riding 79

Riding 79

A coming of age story about a 16-year-old boy who finds himself searching for escape in the island of Puerto Rico after his mother leaves him and his sister with his grandparents in a surf town. His fascination with a hula hoop model leads him to steal his grandfather’s car to meet the object of his affection in person.

Recommended Movies

Passing

Passing

In 1920s New York City, a Black woman finds her world upended when her life becomes intertwined with a former childhood friend who's passing as white.

Killer's Kiss

Killer's Kiss

Davey Gordon, a New York City boxer at the end of his career, falls for dancer Gloria Price. However, their budding relationship is interrupted by Gloria's violent boss, Vincent Rapallo, who has eyes for Gloria. The two decide to skip town, but before they can, Vincent and his thugs abduct Gloria, and Davey is forced to search for her among the most squalid corners of the city, with his enemy hiding in the shadows.

After the Wedding

After the Wedding

Seeking funds for her orphanage in India, Isabelle travels to New York to meet Theresa, a wealthy benefactor. An invitation to attend a wedding ignites a series of events in which the past collides with the present while mysteries unravel.

Origin

Origin

While investigating the global phenomenon of caste and its dark influence on society, a journalist faces unfathomable personal loss and uncovers the beauty of human resilience.

Synecdoche, New York

Synecdoche, New York

A theater director struggles with his work, and the women in his life, as he attempts to create a life-size replica of New York inside a warehouse as part of his new play.

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close

A year after his father's death, Oskar, a troubled young boy, discovers a mysterious key he believes was left for him by his father and embarks on a scavenger hunt to find the matching lock.

What Maisie Knew

What Maisie Knew

In New York City, a young girl is caught in the middle of her parents' bitter custody battle.

Changing Lanes

Changing Lanes

A rush-hour fender-bender on New York City's crowded FDR Drive, under most circumstances, wouldn't set off a chain reaction that could decimate two people's lives. But on this day, at this time, a minor collision will turn two complete strangers into vicious adversaries. Their means of destroying each other might be different, but their goals, ultimately, will be the same: Each will systematically try to dismantle the other's life in a reckless effort to reclaim something he has lost.

Sky

Sky

A woman embarks on a journey alone across the United States after fleeing from her violent husband.

Ballistic

Ballistic

When a soldier's mother discovers the bullet that killed her son in Afghanistan was made at the factory where she works, she sets out on a path of revenge against those responsible.

The Gift

The Gift

Simon and Robyn are a young married couple whose life is going as planned until a chance run-in with Simon's high school acquaintance sends their world into a tailspin.

The Words

The Words

The Words follows young writer Rory Jansen who finally achieves long sought after literary success after publishing the next great American novel. There's only one catch - he didn't write it. As the past comes back to haunt him and his literary star continues to rise, Jansen is forced to confront the steep price that must be paid for stealing another man's work, and for placing ambition and success above life's most fundamental three words.

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit

Jack Ryan, as a young covert CIA analyst, uncovers a Russian plot to crash the U.S. economy with a terrorist attack.

Orlando

Orlando

England, 1600. Queen Elizabeth I promises Orlando, a young nobleman obsessed with poetry, that she will grant him land and fortune if he agrees to satisfy a very particular request.

The Sound of Silence

The Sound of Silence

A successful "house tuner" in New York City, who calibrates the sound in people's homes in order to adjust their moods, meets a client with a problem he can't solve.

My Salinger Year

My Salinger Year

A college grad takes a clerical job working for the literary agent of the renowned, reclusive writer J.D. Salinger.

Brain on Fire

Brain on Fire

Susannah Cahalan, an up-and-coming journalist at the New York Post becomes plagued by voices in her head and seizures, causing a rapid descent into insanity.

The Jazz Singer

The Jazz Singer

A young Jewish man is torn between tradition and individuality when his old-fashioned family objects to his career as a jazz singer. This is the first full length feature film to use synchronized sound, and is the original film musical.

Resurrecting the Champ

Resurrecting the Champ

Up-and-coming sports reporter rescues a homeless man ("Champ") only to discover that he is, in fact, a boxing legend believed to have passed away. What begins as an opportunity to resurrect Champ's story and escape the shadow of his father's success becomes a personal journey as the ambitious reporter reexamines his own life and his relationship with his family.

Topaz

Topaz

Copenhagen, Denmark, 1962. When a high-ranking Soviet official decides to change sides, a French intelligence agent is caught up in a cold, silent and bloody spy war in which his own family will play a decisive role.