At what cost, pride? That’s the basic undercurrent presented by Mira Nair’s commentary of westernization and the new generation’s inability to recognize the roots of their culture and present some acknowledgement all in the pursuit to fit into an image they feel they must obtain. That’s the problem with the character Gogol, who meets a beautiful British woman and takes on a whole new attitude once the subject of his culture is brought up. Gogol isn’t ashamed of where he stems from, he’s just in the mindset that it isn’t that much of a point of interest, especially as loses all grasp of his identity, even calling himself Nick from the second name given to him Nikhil. “The Namesake” though is more about the struggles of the foreign low class family to make a life for themselves in the land of prosperity and pay the price of losing their culture and heritage in the process, and that’s examined through their children Gogol and Sonia.

Nair sets on the story of these two people who had to conform to American standards and expectations much to the chagrin of their own familial pride, and it sadly carried on to their children who became homegrown Americans in spite of the insistence that they remember their culture. The picture of Nikhil, a boy who grew up in America and simply didn’t want to adhere to the routines and traditions of his culture, is never as black and white as Nair could have depicted it. Nikhil is sympathetic, even though he abandoned the respect of his family because he feels that he has to conform. Like any American, he feels the need to be accepted and avoid the biases and prejudices of his new country by conforming and attempting to mix into the masses as much as possible.

Penn's performance, among many notables, is purely exceptional and he really plays well off the rest of the seasoned cast. Sometimes the immigration of a family to another region of the world works like an organism; if the unit does not evolve, it may die, and the character of Ashima seemed to have the foresight to recognize this even in the face of Ashoki seeking opportunities for his family, which ultimately come to turn on him in the end as his children detached from their bonds. “The Namesake” is at first a story of Westernization and then the story of the struggle for identity prior to Westernization. It’s an elegant and engrossing take on the modern youth and rites of passage from Nair.

Exceptional performances, and a fascinating commentary on adapting in a foreign society and the price of culture in the face of conformity make Nair's "The Namesake" a fascinating and gripping drama on the search for identity.

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