that books are better portrayed than movies, but this one was a close call. Works Cited Lahiri, Jhumpa. The Namesake. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2003. Print. The Namesake. Dir. Mira Nair. Prod. Mira Nair and Lydia Dean Pilcher. By Sooni Taraporevala. Perf. Kal Penn, Tabu , and Irrfan Khan. Fox Searchlight Pictures, 2007.