Nair's Namesake

Quite understandably, authors hand over the movie rights of their novels with a sense of trepidation. But Jhumpa Lahiri, for one, seems quite pleased with Mira Nair's version of The Namesake:

"It's exciting to see someone take my book and dramatize it...(though) certain things were definitely cut out, including a couple of scenes that I was really attached to in writing the book. From the beginning I realized that this was not my film. Filmmaking is much more complicated than someone sitting alone writing a book. You have to juggle so many balls in the air...When they filmed in Calcutta, many members of my extended family got to be in the film. It was Mira's idea to pepper the movie with people from my personal world....The most wonderful thing about the process, I think, is that I made a lifelong friend [in Nair]. She's so warm, gifted and real. I admire her in so many ways, not just for her work. She does so many things with grace and aplomb."

On an unrelated note: whatever happened to the other namesake, author Meera Nair? Her first collection of short stories, Video, showed great promise. But that was four years ago...