How Mira Nair's Son Zohran Mamdani Convinced Her To Direct The Namesake Instead Of The Fifth Harry Potter Movie
New Delhi:
Zohran Mamdani, son of award-winning Indian-American filmmaker Mira Nair, recently declared victory in the New York City Democratic mayoral primary. He took to X, to express his joy as he wrote, "In the words of Nelson Mandela; it always seems impossible until it's done. My friends, it is done. And you are the ones who did it. I am honoured to be your Democratic nominee for Mayor of New York City."
Amid his glorious feat, what has resurfaced is an old quote by Mira Nair, where she spoke about how her son had convinced her to direct the fifth installment of the Harry Potter franchise instead of The Namesake.
What's Happening
Filmmaker Mira Nair's son Zohran Mamdani has won the Democratic mayoral primary in New York City.
Amid the ongoing celebrations, an old interview of Mira Nair with Vir Sanghvi at the Jaipur Literature Festival in 2018 has resurfaced. In the interview, she is heard saying how she was considered to direct Harry Potter's fifth part titled Order of the Phoenix, but her son Zohran changed her mind.
She said, "I turned down the offer as I was deep into directing Vanity Fair. I lost my mother-in-law who was like a mother due to medical malpractice in New York. I was deep in melancholy. But at that time, I read The Namesake, the beautiful novel by Jhumpa Lahiri. It was also about the death of a parent. I then decided to make a film on it. I then got an offer to direct Harry Potter."
This was the same time Mira Nair read Jhumpa Lahiri's The Namesake, and fell in love with it. She further revealed how her son was a huge potterhead since childhood. The Harry Potter books were how he was introduced to the world of reading. Hence, she questioned the matter in hand, if she should go ahead with the film adaptation of a book that matters more to her son, or the one that holds more value to herself.
Upon asking her 14-year-old son, the response she got was, "He told me there are many good directors who can make Harry Potter, but there is only one director who can make Namesake."
Not only that, but Zohran also convinced his mother to cast Kal Penn in the role of Gogol, because he was a huge fan of his work in the 2004 film Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle.
About The Namesake
The Namesake was adapted from Jhumpa Lahiri's book with the same title. The plot revolves around the character Gogol Ganguli, the son of Bengali immigrants Ashoke (Irrfan Khan) and Ashima (Tabu) in America. The story then unravels to showcase how Gogol struggles to find his actual identity as he grapples with two different cultures.
In A Nutshell
As Mira Nair's son Zohran Mamdani won the New York City Democratic mayoral primary, an old interaction of the filmmaker has resurfaced. She revealed how her son played a crucial role in convincing her to direct The Namesake when she was also approached to helm the fifth installment in the Harry Potter franchise.
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