Welcome

April 1, 2005 Hello! Welcome to the Namesake weblog. If you’re reading this, it probably means you’re a fan of the novel, “The Namesake”, and are curious about the film adaptation we’re shooting. This afternoon, I was asked by James (the Fox Searchlight Publicist in charge of “The Namesake”) if I’d be up for keeping a sort of online journal through the shoot, so here goes. Since it’s the first post, I’ll give you a little background on what’s been happening. Today was only my third day of shooting, it’s a Friday night (technically Saturday morning at 1:45), & I just got home from work. I’ve got that fulfilled feeling you get when you work a really long day in a job you love, with people who are incredible. We shot in a hospital on Roosevelt Island, here in New York City. Real hospital. Real morgue. Rather than go into a tangent on the perils of a profit-oriented health care system that favors the rich, I’ll just say that hospitals spook me out (for a variety of reasons… is that diplomatic?). I’ve never been to a real morgue, and the next time I go, I hope it’s when I’m dead. Or for work. It seems that people have a plethora of questions about the film, so I’ll keep you up to date. First – who’s in the film, how did you get involved in it, who’s distributing it, where are you shooting it? Here’s the principal cast: Ashoke Ganguli (pronounced Ush-oak Gun-goolee) is being played by Irfan Khan. Ashima Ganguli (Ah-shee-mah) is being played by Tabu. Both of them are incredibly talented actors who work primarily in Indian cinema. They play my character’s parents. I play Gogol Ganguli, by the way. Since I’m on the family tip, Gogol’s younger sister is being played by Sahira Nair, who is a filmmaker herself (She was also in “Mississippi Masala”, and “Monsoon Wedding” two of my favorite films). Maxine is being played by Jacinda Barrett; Zuleikha Robinson is playing Moushmi (Mo-shum-ee). Both of them are stunning in appearance and performance. I’d imagine that if you’re reading this without having read “The Namesake” (the novel), things may not make perfect sense (or you’ll ask questions like, “Why were you in a morgue?” despite the fact that reading the book would provide the answer). LAZY! Read “The Namesake”! It’s my favorite fiction book, and seriously – if you’re going to actually take the time to read what I’m writing about shooting the film, you should read the book. Background on how I became involved in the film: My buddy John Cho (who played “Harold” in “Harold and Kumar”) recommended the novel “The Namesake” to me last year. I had read Jhumpa Lahiri’s first book, “Interpreter of Maladies” (for which she won a Pulitzer) a few years ago, and loved it. Anyway, since I live in the plastic bubble known as Los Angeles, I was not aware that “The Namesake” had come out. After proper chastisement from Cho, I went out and bought the book, read it in a single sitting, and loved it. John and I discussed trying to get rights to the film. We didn’t want someone else to get the rights to it and screw up the film adaptation of it. I remember one of our phone calls talking about this, and we questioned whether we had the experience to do justice to the novel. We sort of agreed that the only person we knew of who would do justice to the story is Mira Nair, but we still wanted the rights. Our agents, managers, and lawyer went to work trying to track down availability, and a few weeks later, we found out that Mira had already gotten rights to the film. Whew! The next day I became that annoying actor who won’t leave a casting director, producer, or manager alone. I called my manager incessantly. I explained to him that he HAD to get me in to see Mira. This wasn’t questionable in my mind. I didn’t “want to” or “think it might be neat to”. I had to. Around the same time, her son and her agent’s son began to berate her with information on “Harold and Kumar”. I think at one point, they literally grabbed her by the arm and forcibly made her watch clips from yahoo movies or the H&K website. Their efforts, combined with my calls to my manager and his calls to Mira’s office, got me an audition and meeting with her. I flew to New York in October, plead my case, auditioned, and eventually got the part. So if you were wondering how I got the part, and who was responsible, there it is. John Cho slapped me back into the reality of the literary world with regard to the book. Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg wrote “Harold and Kumar go to White Castle”, which found two devoted fans among Zohran Nair and Sam Walker. And my amazing manager Dan Spilo kept calling Mira’s office (and I wouldn’t stop calling him). And I guess we should give my parents credit for birthing and raising me. Oh, and my guidance counselor, for inciting rebellion in me when she said that the biggest mistake I could ever make would be to “throw your life away by trying to do this whole acting nonsense, Kalpen!”

Comments

[Xfgufaki]

Jonny was here continental airline ticket 370674

[teens abusive]

hfh fgdfg hgfj dhdfh dfhgf gfh 8teenies julia

[Najir]

I heard your manager Dan Spilo was a jerk. I visited a friend at big production company, and his boss was yelling about how dumb this guy Spilo was. I hope he is not your manager anymore.

[boby]

bla bla bla kill me i am stupid bitch porno
porno
porno
porno
porno
porno
porno
porno
porno
porno

[pornohub]

Penny shuffled down in the chair pushing up her summer dress and ordered me to lick her, pornohub

[Sxfcrygo]

Sorry for my post, http://www.kaboodle.com/ampland ampland movie links, 9364,

[ro89]

You are beautiful and deserve more." She put my hand on her pussy ro89 co

[pornotub]

the boss just grabbed her tits out of her bra and squeezed them hard, pinched the nipples so hard it hurt and she got a tear in her eye “you’re hurting me” she said, but he completely ignored her
porno tub

[mujeres dominicanas]

Hi, good site, las mujeres mas bellas, nzzxrl, fotos de mujeres en tanga, 970248, fotos de mujeres en tanga, 7391,

[mujeres bellas]

Sorry for my post, nalgas de mujeres en tangas, 8623, las mujeres mas bellas, 5851, videos de mujeres encueradas, 8OOO,

[Sarah]

After many research about you in order to build my website, I discovered this blog a few days ago. And this idea of making a blog during the shooting of Namesake is great. It gives the opportunity to each one of us to see what happened behind the scenes. We can see what we don't see.
Read the book? Ah, look! I don't even know if a french version of the book exists or else I'll have to buy the english version, and believe me even if I love Shakespearian language, it's very hard to read a novel in english when you're not bristih or american... I've bought the DVD so that I can be seriously concentrated on the story and I'll come back on this blog after watching it...

It's interesting to see the way you've been in contact with Mira. People close to you can help!

[jenifer]

cJ3QyE http://djtnG49Nsl0g2KasFu.com