I don't think she was well cast for the part at all. Her look didn't fit the character. Although not a completely legit reason, looks are important in Hollywood, and I wouldn't consider her "easy on the eyes." Especially because Bengali women are known for their beauty, as many Bollywood stars and pageant winners have been Bengali women. Personally, I think the only reason she was in that film is cuz she's Mira Nair's daughter.
shareWell you're reasons are flawed on many levels, but first correct the fact that she's not Nair's daughter, actually her niece. She was cast well and I think her looks are completely easy on the eyes, as you put it.
shareMy bad, niece. Nonetheless, she looks very South Indian and doesn't really pass for a Bengali, to the eyes of an Indian. I know to others we all just look like brown people.
shareactually mira nair is punjabi...so her neice must be punjabi too ..or atleast 1/2 punjabi.... guess thats what avg punjab women look like...
i didnt like the movie at all .. didnt relate to it on any level...
i think only indians from the 60's generation that came to the US and their kids must relate to it...; also probably conservative indian folks...
the 'love' scene between the parents was really nauseating...and more like a rape scene than making love..
and the way ashima babies her husband when he has his nightmare.... very typical of indian men who expect to be babied always... first by their mothers and then by their wives...
the movie did bring across really well ... how much in the background an indian woman lives her life even within her family....
ashimas life is spent waiting on her husband and her kids..
it takes her husbands death for her to finally be liberated enough to persue her own interests ...and live where she would be happy....
looking at this movie every woman should wonder what marriage offers to them...
reminded me of all the things i despise about indian culture/men... --
monsoon wedding was way better...and more reprsentative of middle class indian dispora that i can realte to ...
Well, you and I apparently saw a totally different movie.
How terrible that a wife comforts her husband after he's had a nightmare.
I'm not Indian and I didn't immigrate in the 1960s. In fact, my family has been in the U.S. since before 1700, but I could relate to the film.
Only Indians from the 60s? Naw, I "emigrated" (if you could call it that) from Puerto Rico to the U.S. when I was 3 and I've had experiences similar to the ones that Gogol had. Parents who don't understand the culture, rejection of my culture, then acceptance of it, those were all things that I experienced and am still experiencing. So I think it's easy to generalize the experience to almost all children of first-generation immigrants, not just Indian ones from the 60s.
share I also have to disagree about only that specific generation from India identifying with this movie. My parents immigrated in the late 70's. I watched the movie with my mom and my sister and we all totally identified with it; it's the first time I've watched a movie about Indian people and really felt like that was my life.
As for the love scene, I personally think it was uncomfortable-- Well, partially 'cause I watched it with my mom! But mostly because we're all unaccustomed to seeing any kind of physical affection between Indian people of that generation, so it seemed really WRONG and intrusive.
By the way, as a South Indian, I have to say thanks to those who've argued against the old "fairness is beauty" standard for Indians. It IS ridiculous and a throw back to colonialism and there are plenty of gorgeous Indians who have darker complexions. If you don't think the actress is attractive, that's your right, but don't base it on her skin tone or which part of India she's from.
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Mira Nair aint punjabi. Her name kind of gives it away. Nair is one of the most common Malayali names. She's malayalee.
shareWow...
Nair is Malyali as her last name gives away.
I'm not sure why you think only Indians would relate to this movie. I think it might be a tad difficult for a non-immigrant family that has lived in their home country for quite a few generations, but even then the emotions are pretty universal.
Ummm...okay, so maybe not all sex scenes in every movie are choreographed to make it look perfect. The assumption you're supposed to make is that it is probably the first time for both of them and they don't know how to approach each other about sex so they just "do it" instead of romancing each other beforehand. That seems extremely understandable to me since they haven't experienced other relationships.
You obviously can't relate to different cultures at all. It might seem to you that Ashima is not "liberated" but the movie also portrays a so-called liberated woman, Moushimi, who is not well adjusted at all and goes so far as to cheat on her husband to break away from the "constraints" of marriage. She chose to marry the man, but she couldn't even live with her own decisions. Ashima wanted the life she had, as neither her parents nor his parents forced her into the marriage. She talks about how she had rejected men before meeting Ashok. She chose Ashok, even after her Ashok's father points out all the difficulties she will face living in New York. She made a decision, and she was happy with her life afterwards because she was well-adjusted enough to live with her choices. She loved her husband and children and didn't view them as a burden. Once they didn't need her anymore, she made a choice and stuck with it, although as she says, she will miss the United States.
How you can despise a whole culture is beyond me. You obviously have no appreciation for some of the beautiful things about Indian culture. Too bad for you.
"the movie did bring across really well ... how much in the background an indian woman lives her life even within her family....
ashimas life is spent waiting on her husband and her kids..
it takes her husbands death for her to finally be liberated enough to persue her own interests ...and live where she would be happy....
looking at this movie every woman should wonder what marriage offers to them...
reminded me of all the things i despise about indian culture/men..."
I found this subservient/chauvinistic relationship between the wife/husband weird and displeasing. I think anyway, that there is some evidence of this stereotype one generation ago, thankfully it seems dead in my generation.
What? In what way, shape, or form did that look at ALL like a rape scene? You've never seen people be passionate w. each other?
shareYou liked Monsoon Wedding better? Somehow the recurrent sexual abuse bothered me. more than the mothering of the husband.
share"Especially because Bengali women are known for their beauty, as many Bollywood stars and pageant winners have been Bengali women."
"My bad, niece. Nonetheless, she looks very South Indian and doesn't really pass for a Bengali, to the eyes of an Indian. I know to others we all just look like brown people."
Isn't it just beautiful that it's ok for you to singlehandedly call all South Indians ugly, but the minute someone accuses ALL Indians of looking alike you have the nerve to get offended?!!
Do you really smell what you're shoveling? Jolly ole England--Colonialism--has certainly done a number on you.
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"I don't love you enough to hate you!!"
This is not a Bollywood movie, it's not necessary for everyone to be ridiculously gorgeous. This is about an ordinary family, though I would rank the actress as above ordinary looking.
shareFrom watching the movie... personally i thought calcutta looked like a city in continuous decay... and a city with 'average' indian looking people... -- not sure where the 'bengali beauties' you write about were hiding...
dont tell me they populated calcutta with non-bengalis for the movie :) :)
By "many Bollywood stars and pageant winners" do you mean the one ...sushmita sen... who by the way was raised is delhi and comes from a secular army background... where they dont relate with your petty sub-divisions ?
Bengali women are good looking????
sharewhat kind of a debate is this? you'll find good-looking women and not-so-good-looking women within every culture. get over it people! some very good-looking famous bengali actresses are kajol, konkona sen-sharma, bipasha basu and rani mukherjee.
shareI believe Sahira Nair was cast as a last-minute replacement for another actress.
She is not in fact an actor, but is studying to direct.
I thought she was quite good. The role was very small, but she has personality, and looked believable playing the various ages required.
As for whether she's "beautiful enough," that's of course subjective. (Is Kal Penn so handsome?) I myself would take her any day of the week over the Sushmita Sens, Shilpa Shettys, Katrina Kaifs, Lisa Rays and various other 'faux-white-looking' heroines populating (infesting?) Bollywood...
To whomever it was that said Sahira looks "South Indian," that's utterly and completely laughable... Wash the "Fair & Lovely" out of your eyes, friend!
Sahira's as Punjabi/North Indian as they come.
It's ridiculous how people are implying "South Indians" aren't attractive. It just goes to show you how brainwashed a lot of desis are. There are attractive and unattractive people everywhere in this world, and just because one person belongs to a specific region does not mean they are automatically unattractive. Do you base your judgement on your assumption that South Indians are dark? Yes, a vast majority are, but does that necessarily mean they are unattractive?
It is so sad that Bollywood is so modern, yet all the actresses bleach their skin and try to be as "European" looking as they come with fake contacts. That portrayal of beauty has embedded itself in the minds of millions of viewers. This is how "normal" Indians look...this movie depicts an average family. It is supposed to be realistic. I don't know why you are placing such an emphasis on beauty, anyway. But if you are going to complain about an actress being unattractive, please don't imply they look like a certain "type" of desi or a certain ethnicity...because that's blatantly being prejudice. It makes you sound less intelligent, and being South Indian myself, it annoys me immensely.
And in my eyes, her niece was beautiful.
AMEN!!
shareYou have a good point about the Indian obsession with "fair", i.e., light-skinned, i.e., European-looking, being equated with beauty. Most Bollywood actresses - even those with two ethnic Indian parents - would not look out of place in southern Europe or the Middle East. The woman many consider the most beautiful woman in the world, Ashwariya Rai, is extremely European-looking down to her blue eyes. Why this self-hate about having dark skin, which most Indians have?
shareINMO, a hangover of colonialism... unfortunately seen in almost every non-white society.
WHITE is "beautiful," "refined," "sophisticated", "rich." The further one's complexion is from white, the more likely one is to be of 'peasant stock,' 'low caste,' lower on the evolutionary ladder (i.e., closer to the primates), etc.
I would certainly never blame Lisa Ray, Katrina Kaif et al for being half-white (I am myself). But it is absolutely no coincidence that almost all female (and male) stars in Bollywood look like them. Nor is it an accident that 'whitening' creams and tonics such as "Fair and Lovely" (with variants for both women and men!) are the highest selling products in every Indian pharmacy. In China, young women prostitute themselves and steal from their parents to pay for cosmetic surgery to make their eyes look "European."
This self-hate is also very useful to established elites in a great many countries, because the tyranny of light-skinned complexions serves to reinforce their hegemony. Some "johnny-come-lately" might be able to make a lot of money somehow, but there really isn't all that much he can do to change the colour of his skin.
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I am not Indian/South Asian, but I strongly related to the movie, to the story it told, to the lives of the characters, and to their various struggles as they unfolded in the plot. I was really shaken by the mother's grief at her husband's death, and at Gogol's regret and remorse. Anyone who has ever lost a spouse or a parent and felt anything can relate, no matter what her or his background.
Also, while I don't find Kal Penn that attractive, I thought the actresses playing the mother Ashima, the daughter Sonia and the grown-up version of Moushoumi Majumdar were quite attractive. Tabu in particularly is very beautiful.
I'd also just like to put in a plug for Jhumpa Lahiri's fiction. Her two books of stories are far better than the novel, but all three works are worth reading. Some of her stories in the first collection verge on formal perfection, and some in the second are astonishing in the depth of feeling they convey. I hope other directors decide to make films based on them. She provides a template for excellence to work with.
Thank you.
shareShe's easy on the eyes- a delight
share"the 'love' scene between the parents was really nauseating...and more like a rape scene than making love.."
Interesting that you say that. Do you care to elaborate? For some reason I found myself not really wanting to watch it, either, maybe because I felt discomfort between the characters who didn't know each other very well, I'm not sure...
Mira Nair is south indian. She's malayali. So obviously her niece is likely to be malayali too.
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"Sonia" looks like a southy to me and in my opinion (since we all have one) did NOT look like she was related to Gogol, Ashima or the dad. Not saying they should have cast Priyanka Chopra for the part, but perhaps someone cuter.
I agree with the OP. She was cast because she is related to Nair. It may not be Bollywood, but it IS Hollywood and the rules of aesthetics are not different, but in the same respect it is all about who you know.
Some people have HATE, but J.LO haters really LOVE her!
wat kind of *beep* question is that u ignorant dumbass
Guns for show, knives for a Pro
i kind of agree with the first poster that casting that girl was not really justified. her acting was contrived and unnatural and she wasn't even goodlooking. i wasn't in love with the role itself...there was no need to portray the character as some gothy looking girl who dresses weird to get across that shes at ABCD.
shareSahira Nair was pretty spot-on as an ABCD, even the accent, though she was raised in India. She was the little Mina in "Mississippi Masala" and one of the wedding guests (talking about drinking and kissing) in "Monsoon Wedding." She is only early 20s, so give her a break!
As for actresses who someone here called "faux white"- Katrina Kaif and Lisa Ray are 1/2 white (mother's side). Therefore, they are not faking being white. I haven't seen Kaif, but Ray knows Hindi and seems like she could be a fine actress (if she works hard and gets good roles).
Sorry, but that's a pretty untoward comment. Say what you want about the role and performance, but there's no need to denigrate the actress.
shareSonia is a typical ABCD, and she acts the same way and wears the same type of clothes in the book.
So the actress was spot on. And I have to say, she isn't very likeable in the book until she's older.
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Did the sister have a bigger part in book? I thought her part in the movie was too small.
Nobody notices the sober Indians. On tv the drunk Indians emote In books drunk Indians philosophize
Guys just ignore ninac. She's known to be a racist troll.
Everyone is capable of being beautiful
Cut the crap!
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I didn't have a problem with the actress, necessarily but rather with the fact that she didn't have much to do. She was basically a background prop throughout the entire movie, barely speaking other than to call her brother "Goggle" every now and then.
I had no idea she is Mira Nair's neice, though. Was her role in the book this downplayed or could it be that maybe she's not that good an actress, so her role was downsized? I dunno.....
Baba mi Ogun modupe
BARACK THE VOTE '08!
I'm about 2/3 done with the book now. She really doesn't have any major role. She's mentioned often as being with Gogol in the family scenes, going to Bengali parties with the family, eventually moving away, coming back once Ashoke dies to grieve with and support the family. Really the only scene where she was a focus was the rice-ceremony when she is an infant, and they show that in the movie.
IMO it's important to Gogol to have a sister, she is clearly his fellow American-raised Indian sibling, they keep each other company in India, in some ways she's his foil, with the same upbringing as him, but makes different life choices. I'm glad they didn't try to contrive a storyline with her for the sake of it though, she's fine as a minor character. But I imagine it would make it hard for someone playing her when her role isn't well-defined.