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Produced and directed by the Academy Award®-nominated Mira Nair, (Mississippi Masala, Monsoon Wedding, Kama Sutra and Salaam Bombay! to name a few) The Namesake is based on the best-selling novel of the same name by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jhumpa Lahiri.
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The Namesake is an original motion picture soundtrack. The soundtrack consists of half original score material composed by Nitin Sawhney and half licensed tracks that contain elements of Indian folk and pop or Dali music, to hip-hop by artists such as Geeta Dutt, State of Bengal, Susheela Raman, Lakhan Das, The Elements and Mykill Miers, Kartik Das, Federico Aubele, Partha Chatterjee, and includes the track “Falling” written and performed by Nitin Sawhney and Aqualung and featuring the vocals of Matt Hales from the band Aqualung.
Click here for more...
The Namesake is the story of the Ganguli family whose move from Calcutta to New York evokes a lifelong balancing act to meld to a new world without forgetting the old.
Click here for more...
Click here...
Click here...
 
Produced and directed by the Academy Award®-nominated Mira Nair, (Mississippi Masala, Monsoon Wedding, Kama Sutra and Salaam Bombay! to name a few) The Namesake is based on the best-selling novel of the same name by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jhumpa Lahiri.
With The Namesake, Mira Nair found ways to link New York and Calcutta not only visually, but via sound as well. Like the story itself, the film’s soundtrack traverses both time and cultures. “I love Indian classical music and I wanted to link that classical sound with the pulsating New York sound of today,” comments Nair. “So the soundtrack not only crosses 25 years of time but also moves from Bengali folk music, Geeta Dutt’s “Jhiri Jhiri Choyetali” to hip-hop, “The Chosen One.” And then there is Nitin Sawhney’s haunting score mixed throughout.”
The film’s screen adaptation was penned by Sooni Taraporevala, with whom Nair previously collaborated on Mississippi Masala and the Oscar®-nominated Salaam Bombay!
Mira Nair talks about the music…
If I am blessed, a melody will capture me in the early days of the film’s conception, and stay throughout the growth of the film. In the case of The Namesake, it was Nitin Sawhney’s and Jayanta Bose’s THE BOATMAN. The lyrics and the rhythm captured the elegant soulfulness of traditional Bhatially songs, and Nitin’s elegant scoring made it modern. I had loved Nitin’s concert music, and it was to him I turned for the score, keen to make The Namesake a flag of desi creative power.
Once we identified the theme of the film during one of his casual strummings – the haunting melody of “First Day in New York” – the rest of the score tumbled out, forging an ancient-modern tapestry that beautifully cradled the span of thirty years in the Ganguli family. I must specially mention the genius of the young Indian flutist, K. Srinivasan, who added an enormous dimension to the score with his extraordinary playing of the flute. I have always been a devotee of the music of the great Baul singers, and finally could make a film where their music would feel at home. To Bhava Pagla and Lakhan Das my special thanks.
Since the film was about movement and crossings, obviously the music had to be so. Since the film moved fluidly between New York City and Calcutta, so could the music: it moved in a freewheeling way between Geeta Dutt’s “bengali gaan” from the ’60s to Susheela Raman’s contemporary take on Mukesh’s popular ’70s love song, “Ye Mera Diwanapan Hai” to today’s rap of “The Chosen One” to the heat and sway of “Postales.” This is the privilege of cinema: to bring together the sounds, voices, instruments of that which you love and make it one with image.
Mira Nair
October 2006, New York City
www.foxsearchlight.com/thenamesake/
www.universalclassics.com
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The Namesake is an original motion picture soundtrack. The soundtrack consists of half original score material composed by Nitin Sawhney and half licensed tracks that contain elements of Indian folk and pop or Dali music, to hip-hop by artists such as Geeta Dutt, State of Bengal, Susheela Raman, Lakhan Das, The Elements and Mykill Miers, Kartik Das, Federico Aubele, Partha Chatterjee, and includes the track “Falling” written and performed by Nitin Sawhney and Aqualung and featuring the vocals of Matt Hales from the band Aqualung.
Over the last decade Nitin Sawhney has carved out a singular niche in British culture melding the musical barriers between East and West, between classicism and popularity, interspersing music from around the world to club-land-culture. His 4th album, Beyond Skin (released in 2000) was short-listed as one of the albums of the year for the Mercury Music Prize and it also won the prestigious South Bank Show Award. Its successor, 2001's Prophesy - recorded in five continents and featuring over 230 musicians - won Nitin further honors including a MOBO, an EMMA and a BBC Radio 3 Award. Sawhney’s latest album, Philtre, was released in 2005. Besides his own albums, Nitin Sawhney film scores include Pure (directed by Gilles Mackinnon) and Anita and Me (directed by Metin Husseyin).
The Namesake soundtrack is available on DECCA Records.
www.foxsearchlight.com/thenamesake/
www.universalclassics.com
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The Namesake is the story of the Ganguli family whose move from Calcutta to New York evokes a lifelong balancing act to meld to a new world without forgetting the old. Though parents Ashoke and Ashima (Irrfan Khan, Tabu) long for the family and culture that enveloped them in India, they take great pride in the opportunities their sacrifices have afforded their children. Paradoxically, their son Gogol (Kal Penn) is torn between finding his own unique identity without losing his heritage. Even Gogol’s name represents the family’s journey into the unknown.
www.foxsearchlight.com/thenamesake/
www.universalclassics.com
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1. Shoes to America
2. The Namesake Opening Titles
3. First Day in New York
4. Jhiri Jhiri Choyetali
5. Flight IC408
6. Airport Grief
7. Mo’s Affair
8. Farewell Ashoke
9. Ashima Becomes a Widow
10. Aftermath
11. Ye Mera Divanapan Hai
12. Baul Song
13. Taj Mahal
14. The Chosen One
15. Max Arrives
16. Boatman’s Song
17. Postales
18. Amra Reformed Hindus
19. The Namesake Reprise
20. The Same Song
21. Falling
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Irfan Khan Ashoke Ganguli
Jagannath Guha Ghosh
Ruma Guha Thakurta Ashoke's Mother
Tabu Ashima Ganguli
Sandip Deb Music Teacher
Sukanya Rini
Tanusree Shankar Ashima's Mother
Sabyasachi Chakravarthy Ashima's Father
Tamal Sengupta Ashoke's Father (as Tamal Roy Choudhury)
Dhruv Mookerji Rana
Supriya Choudhury Ashima's Grandmother (as Supriya Devi)
Stuart Rudin Crazy Wino
Heather MacRae Nurse Patty
Sumitra Kanti Calcutta House Staff
Michael Countryman Mr. Wilcox
Kousik Bhowal Dr. Gupta
Rupak Ginn Uncle
Soham Chatterjee Gogol (Age 4)
Lydia Dean Pilcher producer
Lori Keith Douglas co-producer
Anadil Hossain line producer: India
Yukie Kito co-producer
Yasushi Kotani executive producer
Mira Nair producer
Ronnie Screwvala executive producer
Zarina Screwvala co-producer
Taizo Son executive producer
Original Music by Nitin Sawhney
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