DIASPORA LANGUAGE AND CULTURE IN JHUMPA LAHIRI’S “THE NAMESAKE”: A CINEMATIC ADAPTATION

Abstract

There is an integral and deep-rooted connection between cinema, language and literature. All over the world, we find that cinema borrows freely from literature. Many literary classics and best sellers have been made into movies. The cinematic adaptation of literature is another unique medium available to genius to bring the printed text alive on screen for the audience. Hence, film adaptation of literary text is different from translation. A film gives visuality of images, languages, sounds, music, and performances of real characters. Mira Nair, one of the most prominent directors, has adapted Lahiri's The Namesake to make a movie by the same name so that Lahiri's message could reach larger audiences across the globe. The present study aims to highlight the cultural disparity in the same novel. It explores an immigrant position of cultural hybridity in the United States. The cultural disparity is the focal concept in literature. It concerns culture, especially those adopting another culture, and the problems they face while embracing another culture. The issue of cultural disparity focuses on the problems of adopting a different culture. Cultural conflict has been a constant motif to Indian diasporic writers, presented by Lahiri in the form of immigrants' experiences in an evocative manner. It is observed that for immigrants, the challenges of exile, feeling of displacement, longing for homeland, and desire to acquire identity in a new world. The Namesake is a narrative of an Indian Bengali family who comes to America for a better future. It discusses the dilemma of cultural clash and identity in a new land. The title's true meaning reflects the similarities and difficulties between the first generation and the second generation.
The panelists use the acronym ABCD, i.e., "AMERICAN BORN CONFUSED DESHI", to refer to people like Gogol. Some of the prominent themes in Jhumpa Lahiri's fiction include memory, loss, and longings. The Namesake explores cultural relations and identity crisis. This paper throws light on how Lahiri uses Gogol name to show the duality of immigrant experience and also thus explain the 'Diasporic Culture'.
Thus, this movie depicts the conflict between the first and second generations.