Monsoon Wedding helmer Mira Nair drew on her own experiences for "poignant" family saga The Namesake. Adapted from Jhumpa Lahiri's Pulitzer prize-winning novel about the pains of immigration, it stars Bollywood actress Tabu and erstwhile movie stoner Kal 'Kumar' Penn. Although the film didn't break any box office records, glowing reviews helped to put bums on seats in all corners of the globe.

Unpacking The Baggage

In her commentary for the film, Nair speaks not only as a director but as a child immigrant and a mother. She explains that the project was "inspired by grief" after losing her beloved mother-in-law and then finding her sentiments echoed in Jhumpa Lahiri's book. Throughout the film, Nair picks on scenes that resonate with her own experiences of coming to America and raising children there, but she is also very instructive on the technical aspects of filmmaking. She explains why she chooses a close-up over a wide-angle shot and how that decision feeds the underlying emotion of a scene, eg the loneliness of Ashima (Tabu).

Nair gets deep into issues of story structure and design in a series of classes at Columbia University Film School. These seminars are condensed into just over half-an-hour of footage, but there's enough here to fill the notepad of a budding director. First, she invites producer Lydia Dean Pilcher to talk about the process of funding an independent feature (and preserving the director's right to 'final cut') and is later joined by the casting agent, cinematographer Frederick Elmes and editor Allyson Johnson. Snippets of behind-the-scenes footage and even Kal Penn's screen test are included in this crash course to moviemaking.

Left Behind

An interview with Kal Penn is merely an assembly of soundbites. He chats briefly about the inner-life of his character, adding that he relates to him, not by virtue of his ethnic identity, but because of the "universal" nature of his struggles. It's disappointing that we don't get to hear more from him and his co-stars Irfan Khan and Tabu on the business of shooting in Calcutta.

Three deleted scenes play up the culture clash with a little wry humour. Nair even deigns to use the word '"juxtaposition" in an optional commentary, talking about the image of a woman in a sari smoking a cigarette and reflecting on her own experience as a new mother visiting her black-haired baby in a ward filled with shiny, bald, pink heads. Conversely, a music video for Kolkata Love Poem draws the parallels between Calcutta and New York, echoing Nair's intention to paint "a portrait of the two cities as if they are one..." - something she talks about in the film commentary and the Columbia seminars.

It would've been a welcome bonus to see Nair at work on the streets of India, but this DVD is still an intriguing showcase for her talent. Aspiring filmmakers will glean lots of practical advice, and for the average film fan, you'll be transported across continents from the comfort of your own sofa.

EXTRA FEATURES

The Namesake DVD is released on Monday 30th July 2007.