why ‘the namesake’ is irritating me.

I don’t know anything about how to market a Hollywood movie. But I can generally tell when something is being royally neglected. And the movie, The Namesake, has gotten my attention recently (for its absence, not presence). Full disclosure, The Namesake is one of my favorite books ever. So maybe I care more about this than any other movie coming out this year. And so, I’ve taken the time to write an open-letter to Mira Nair, the Executive Producers of The Namesake, and the marketing executives at Fox Searchlight. (If you know any of these people, please forward my angry missive to them. thanks.) Begin:

I understand that The Namesake is more of an art film than a blockbuster, and so naturally, we’re not going to see a lot of TV commercials. What I don’t get is why, considering the highly connected and engaged nature of the group the movie likely targets– young South-Asian Americans, there isn’t an intense online campaign going on. And, no, I don’t count the 10-post-over-7-months “blog” that is currently up as anything of substance. I can already picture the executives sitting in their office: “Hey, we should do one of those Blog-type things.” Executive number two, “yeah, that’s a great idea—the kids love that stuff. Let’s have the guy from Harold and Kumar do something with it.” (close scene with a high-five). And then like most stuff thrown against the wall… it’s quickly forgotten about.

Now that I’ve called you idiots, here’s my (hopefully less idiotic) proposal. There’s still time do this. Send me a message and we’ll get to work. (I’ll even apologize for calling you idiots).

1) Use Jhumpa Lahiri. The author of The Namesake, is a serious writer. Pulitzer Prize winner and all the trimmings. How are you using her? I have no idea and I don’t think anyone else does either. How about you get her to blog for the movie and actually promote it. She could do anything from blogging from the character’s POV about incidents from the book, or even extending forward into the present day. Engage past readers who already care about the characters to build excitement. Or she could blog about the themes and topics covered in the book. I know I’d love to read (and likely link to) more from her in the vain of her “My Two Lives” Newsweek article from a year ago.

2) Release video clips. You’ve got a passionate and engaged user base of readers who have already read and loved the book. Releasing snippets of video on the website, YouTube or whatever keeps this top of mind and gets people to send this around. This is pretty simple stuff that the producers of the comic companies have nailed—whet the appetites of a rabid fan base to encourage word of mouth and buoy a big opening weekend. Instead you’re doing the opposite: neglecting them.

3) Make the official website interactive. Create a discussion board/forum where people can share their real-life stories of ‘two worlds. one journey’, the tagline of the movie. I know my mother has a story. If you create a community where people are actually engaging, it is only natural these stories will travel and you’ll be drawing new visitors to the site who have never read the book. More importantly, these real-life stories have a powerful undercurrent that will go far beyond the original audience of just South-Asian Americans. The story of an immigrant’s journey shares enormous parallels and passions regardless of the country. If you don’t think this will broaden your base of interested viewers—you’re crazy! And if interest is low in the community, sponsor a contest where the authors of the top 5 stories (determined by reader vote) win a trip to the premier.

These are just the first three ideas that I had. I have more. But these are pretty good. And more importantly, they are cheap. The excuse of “we don’t have a budget for this”, won’t cut it here. I love The Namesake, and therefore, I hope to love this movie. Help me by making other people love it too.

love, surya

End diatribe.