Kal Penn Finds Cultural Roots, Turns Serious in ‘Namesake’

For Ashoke Ganguli, whose train journey through the Indian countryside begins the film “The Namesake,” Russian writer Nikolai Gogol’s short story “The Overcoat” radically changes his life. Because of Gogol, Ganguli moves to the United States and embarks on a journey he could not otherwise have imagined. He even nicknames his Indian-American son after the author, giving the movie he theme behind its title.

Actor Kal Penn, who plays Gogol, also credits a certain work of art with inspiring a radical career change. The work is not anything by written Gogol, who Penn had never read before the movie, nor is it the the 2003 novel by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jhumpa Lahiri that served as inspiration for the film.

Rather, it’s the sophomoric type of work that many think Penn eschewed with “The Namesake”: 2004’s “Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle,” where Penn plays a prospective medical student on an epic quest for fast food after smoking too much pot and getting the munchies.

According to Penn at an interview with college journalists, upon discovering that renowned director Mira Nair ’79 (“Monsoon Wedding,” “Vanity Fair”) had the rights to film “The Namesake,” he immediately began a campaign to be in the cast. Yet he would not have succeeded without the help of two well-placed fans of “Harold and Kumar.”

“I had all my managers and agents and people who usually help me with these things call her office, and there were no phone calls returned. And then I called myself, and there were no phone calls returned,” Penn explains. “Then I decided to write her a letter telling her exactly why I had to play this part.”

That only worked, says Penn, thanks to Nair’s 14-year-old son.

“Every night before bed, because he was such a big fan of ‘Harold and Kumar,’ [he] would say Mom, why don’t we audition Kal Penn?” says Penn.

Nair’s son’s effort to get Penn cast culminated in a joint vacation with Nair’s agent and her agent’s teenage son.

“The two of them on a group family vacation physically dragged her by the hand to a computer and made her watch the ‘Harold and Kumar’ trailer,” Penn says. “After every night of having her son and her agent’s son berate her, she finally agreed to audition me and I flew to New York.”

“Namesake” follows the Ganguli family from the 1970s to the present, encompassing the older generation’s marriage and move to the U.S. and their children’s struggle to meet the demands of two cultures.

Many have speculated that the film represents a permanent transition to more serious work for Penn, also known for his role as Taj in “Van Wilder” and the recent satire, “Epic Movie.” Though he says he’d like to continue to do comedy, he’s thankful for the chance to do something different.

“It was very welcome,” Penn says of doing a drama. “I’m working doing the ‘Harold and Kumar’ sequel right now, but as far as breaking away from the ‘Taj,’ ‘Epic Movie’ disaster”—he pauses after referencing two comedies in which he’s recently starred—“I mean, scenario, it was a welcome change.”

Penn also sees reflections in the film of his own childhood as an Indian-American in New Jersey. Although he says he didn’t face the same cultural expectations from his parents that Gogol does, he notes that he also experienced stereotyping.

“Thanks to the genius of ‘The Simpsons’ and ‘Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom,’ it took a little bit of work to explain to people that I am neither a cartoon character nor a monkey brain-eater,” Penn explains, laughing.

He credits Nair with breaking some of the barriers that had previously kept Indians out of mainstream American cinema.

“She was one of my role models growing up and really inspired me to go into filmmaking,” he says. “So to have the chance to work with her was very, very incredible.”

But for those who worry that Penn has left behind the stoned, teenaged boy demographic forever, there are several indications to the contrary.

For one, although marijuana doesn’t have the leading role in “The Namesake” that it does in “Harold and Kumar,” it does make an appearance: after smoking up following his high school graduation, Gogol rushes home to find a Bengali family sitting with his parents and sister in their living room. Upon hearing that they’re from London, he contemplates for a second, answers “London…that’s far,” and then erupts into giggles.

Penn is also familiar with the kinds of media that predominate among high school and college students. He keeps a blog on typepad.com detailing the process of making “The Namesake.”

In response to his inability to think of any actors he’d like to work with besides Natalie Portman ’03, Penn reveals his use of another decidedly 21st-century means of communication.

“You know how you think about this stuff all the time, and then somebody asks you, and you can’t think of anything?” he says. After a pause, he comes up with a decision.

“MySpace me, and I’ll get back to you.”

—Staff writer Marianne F. Kaletzky can be reached at kaletzky@fas.harvard.edu.