The middle third of The Namesake shifts focus to the Gangulis' oldest child (Penn), who—as illuminated in an early plot twist—bears the name of Ashoke's favorite author. Wholly Yankified and borderline surly, adolescent Gogol grapples with his own demons, including the traditionalism of his parents, an unconventional moniker (he goes by "Nick") and a pervasive feeling of being caught between two worlds. After a trip to his parents' home country, Gogol enters college and briefly hooks up with Anglo hottie Max (Barrett) before marrying—again, briefly—a more acceptable (to his parents, anyway), equally hot local gal, Moushumi (Zuleikha Robinson). A family tragedy subsequently realigns both Gogol's and Ashima's lives, and the film comes full circle with a touching coda in Calcutta.
Generally well-observed and more contemplative than Nair's previous works, The Namesake nevertheless has its deficits. The director isn't averse to indulging, albeit mutedly, in the sort of multi-culti laughs audiences have come to expect from such lesser fare as Bend It Like Beckham, in which a roomful of Indian people is cause for unaccountable hilarity. A little lightening up isn't a bad thing for so weighty a subject, but when you've seen one Bollywood-musical-number send-up, as with Gogol and Moushimi's wedding-night scene, you've seen them all. Moreover, it takes some effort not to picture Kumar whenever Penn opens his mouth (an early pot-smoking scene doesn't help), even though the actor largely succeeds in making Gogol's topsy-turvy development convincing. The other performers, particularly Khan and Tabu, are exemplary, and any movie that includes repeated references to Nikolai Gogol's "The Overcoat" can't be all bad.
Perhaps The Namesake's biggest strength is that Ashoke and Ashima's early life together isn't hurried through. These scenes suggest a different movie from the one we finally get, and despite its transition to the first American-born generation of Gangulis, the film is still less Gogol's story than it is Ashima's; indeed, its final scene belongs to her. But the real stars of The Namesake are time and flux, as each of its characters adjusts to the unforeseen vicissitudes, ever-shifting circumstances and perpetual motion of modern life. Mira Nair may make the kind of movies in which characters say things like "follow your bliss" and "there are no accidents" with no trace of irony, but she's also a canny enough artist to understand that—regardless of where you or your ancestors came from or how long ago—assimilation is a process that's never quite resolved.