2007年VOA标准英语-American Immigrant Saga Has South Asian Flavor

By Alan Silverman
Holloywood
11 March 2007

The American immigrant saga¹ has a South Asian flavor in a new film adapted from the best-selling novel by Jhumpa Lahiri about two generations of a Bengali family living in the United States. Alan Silverman has a look at The Namesake.

From left: Tabu, Kal Penn and Jacinda Barrett in "The Namesake"

Gogol Ganguli may have been born in America, but his story begins in Calcutta where, years before he is born, his parents - Ashoke and Ashima - are brought together by their parents in an arranged marriage.

"Won't he be there?" asks Ashima and their match is sealed. Ashoke is studying engineering in New York and Ashima does her best to adapt to their new life in America.

Their first-born is Gogol, named for the Russian author whose books carry a special meaning for Ashoke; but, as he grows older in a country of Bob's and Charlie's and Harry's, Gogol is constantly reminded he is perceived as different.

"I don't think it's about culture. I think it's a very universal kind of American story, if anything else, about a family," says Kal Penn, an American-born actor with family roots in India, stars as Gogol. The New Jersey² native says he can identify with some of the character's attitudes and relationships. "There are some parallels like, obviously, being the first generation [child] of Indian parents; but that's not really, to me, what the story is about at all. I think the identity portion of the story is Ashima's character. She is the one who really goes through the identity arc and fitting in with American society. Gogol, on the other hand, is born and raised in America. He is bilingual. He is very comfortable with all of that and it's other people who always take issue with his identity," he says. "Even with his girlfriend, Maxine, asks him if his parents want him to marry a nice Indian girl and he is, like, 'I don't know. I don't care what they want. What I want is something else.'"

Jacinda Barrett plays Gogol's girlfriend, a blonde New Yorker with deep family roots in America. Australia-born Barrett says the culture conflict in the story resonates with her. "For me, being an immigrant, I totally understand where the main character, Gogol, is coming from. Although I play a very different character who is from New York, lives in the same house she grew up in, is very affluent³ and very at ease with her place in the world and has no pulling to a life that she came from, as opposed to the life that she's living. So my character was very different from me. I more respond to Gogol's perspective, which is your history being in another country and being torn ...and the sort of duality of two cultures," she says.

"I think there is a real universality of any one of us who has left a homeland for another, whether it is a country or another city," says director Mira Nair - Indian-born, Harvard-educated and now living in New York and her husband's native Uganda. She says she was drawn⁴ to The Namesake after reading the novel and recognizing in it experiences shared by immigrants in every generation. I think the thing about coming to America is that America is this vast place made up of others like you who have come from other places, but there is, at the same time, a quality of wanting to be 'American.' The interesting thing about the Ganguli family in The Namesake is they have the parents very much in between worlds and then Gogol who burns to be American ...not Indian-American, but full-on American. That is also a very interesting push-and-pull."

The Namesake cast includes two top stars of 'Bollywood,' Irrfan Khan and Tabu, as Gogol's parents Ashoke and Ashima. London-born Zuleikha Robinson plays the worldly Bengali bride who marries Gogol; and the film features locations from the busy streets of New York and Calcutta to the stunning⁵ vista⁶ of the Taj Mahal in Agra.

1 saga   

n.(尤指中世纪北欧海盗的)故事，英雄传奇

参考例句：

• The saga of Flight 19 is probably the most repeated story about the Bermuda Triangle.飞行19中队的传说或许是有关百慕大三角最重复的故事。
• The novel depicts the saga of a family.小说描绘了一个家族的传奇故事。

2 jersey   

n.运动衫

参考例句：

• He wears a cotton jersey when he plays football.他穿运动衫踢足球。
• They were dressed alike in blue jersey and knickers.他们穿着一致，都是蓝色的运动衫和灯笼短裤。

3 affluent   

adj.富裕的，富有的，丰富的，富饶的

参考例句：

• He hails from an affluent background.他出身于一个富有的家庭。
• His parents were very affluent.他的父母很富裕。

4 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

5 stunning   

adj.极好的；使人晕倒的

参考例句：

• His plays are distinguished only by their stunning mediocrity.他的戏剧与众不同之处就是平凡得出奇。
• The finished effect was absolutely stunning.完工后的效果非常美。

6 vista   

n.远景，深景，展望，回想

参考例句：

• From my bedroom window I looked out on a crowded vista of hills and rooftops.我从卧室窗口望去，远处尽是连绵的山峦和屋顶。
• These uprisings come from desperation and a vista of a future without hope.发生这些暴动是因为人们被逼上了绝路，未来看不到一点儿希望。