Mira Nair's 2007 art house hit co-produced by UTV Motion Pictures & Fox Searchlight, The Namesake, starring Irrfan Khan, Tabu, Kal Penn, and Jacinda Barrett was nominated for Best Feature at the 2007 IFP Gotham Awards, New York.
Also, star Irrfan Khan is the first Indian actor to ever be nominated for a Film Independent's Spirit Award. Khan has been recognized in the Best Supporting Actor category for his portrayal of Ashoke Ganguli, a father who anchors his family as they grow through loneliness, adolescence, and bitter loss. An inspirational tale about the ties that bind us all, The Namesake is "marvelous, moving...funny and sexy" (Entertainment Weekly).
The Namesake DVD comes out in the USA on November 28, 2007 and is already available in India. It includes special features like: Commentary by Director Mira Nair, Deleted scenes, The Anatomy of The Namesake: A Class at Columbia University's Graduate Film School, Fox Movie Channel Presents: In Character with Kal Penn, Kolkata Love Poem, and Photography as Inspiration.
Nair, who calls The Namesake her "most personal film yet," is being honored by the Independent Feature Project with a retrospective of her body of work. This past weekend, the Independent Film Center in New York City hosted packed screenings of Hysterical Blindness (2002, starring Uma Thurman, Juliette Lewis, and Gena Rowlands), Monsoon Wedding (2001, starring Naseeruddin Shah, Lillette Dubey, and Vijay Raaz).
The celebration culminated with a screening of Nair's new short film, Migration (2007, starring Shiney Ahuja, Raima Sen, Irrfan Khan, and Sameera Reddy) and her Oscar-nominated debut, Salaam Bombay! followed by a Q&A moderated by renowned director Bennett Miller (Capote). Uma Thurman and Tabu presented Nair with her tribute award to celebrate her contribution to independent cinema at Gotham Awards ceremony held on Nov 28.
