US-based filmmaker Mira Nair Sunday began a fortnight-long shoot of "The Namesake", a celluloid adaptation of Pulitzer-winning Jhumpa Lahiri's debut novel of the same name.

Mira said she hoped to start editing in September and complete the film by February 2006 so that it can travel next May to the Cannes film festival where several of her earlier films were screened.

"When I read 'Namesake' I was immensely happy. It is an exquisite novel and so I put two of my other films on the backburner and started with 'Namesake'.

"Jhumpa is just ecstatic that her book is being filmed. And she has a role in it. She plays Jumpamashi (Aunt Jhumpa)," said Mira who spent several years in Kolkata and idolises late filmmakers Ritwick Ghatak and Satyajit Ray.

"The Namesake" is the story of the Ganguly family of Kolkata, which moves to New York and tries to blend the new world with their old culture.

While parents Ashoke (Irrfan Khan) and Ashima (Tabu) long for the family and culture that had enveloped them in India, their son Gogol (played by Kal Penn of "Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle" fame) is torn between finding his own unique identity and his heritage.

"'The Namesake' is the story of the sacrifices our parents made for their children. It is a deep human way of telling the story of millions of us who left one home for another, who have known what it means to combine old with the new," said Mira.

"It is a film about the 1970s of Kolkata and the 1990s of USA. I have written it with my long time friend and collaborator Sooni Taraporewala," said Mira whose shot into fame with "Saalam Bombay" in the late eighties.

For Tabu, the film revives memories of shooting with Gautam Ghose three years ago for "Abar Aranya" (Again in the Forest).

"I think Bengali is one of the deepest and richest cultures. It is great that in a span of three years I am again playing a Bengali character. The romance of Kolkata just grips me," said the talented actor whom Mira cast along with Irrfan Khan after watching their awesome screen chemistry in "Maqbool".

According to Irrfan Khan, the character of Ashoke that he is playing is one from whom he is learning to be a better human being.

"He is a man at peace with himself and supports the family. I am still discovering him and learning," said the actor.

"It is true that we were considering Rani Mukherjee and even Abhishek Bachchan for the role of Gogol. But owing to date problems it did not happen. I also think the physicality and sexuality of Abhishek would not have matched the character of Gogol like it worked for Kal Penn who is born in the US," said Mira.

Veteran Bengali actor Supriya Devi (of Ritwick Ghatak's "Mege Dhaka Tara" fame) plays the grandmother of Ashima in the film while a host of other local actors included danseuse and choreographer Tanusree Shankar and Ruma Guhathakurata.

Present along with Mira Nair were UTV's CEO Ronnie Screwvala, coproducer Lydia Dean Pilcher (who partnered Mira on the Golden Globe and Emmy Award-winning "Hysterical Blindness" and "Vanity Fair"), and actors Jacinda Barett ("The Human Stain") and Zuleikha Robinson ("The Merchant of Venice" fame who plays Mousumi in "The Namesake").

The movie is breaking new grounds with an Indian studio, UTV Motion Pictures, collaborating with Hollywood studio Fox Searchlight (which has entered in the movie production territory for the first time) and Japanese producer Entertainment Farm. While Fox is the overseas distributors of the film, UTV Motion Picture will handle the Indian territory.

"It is a new terrain for us, and being so closely associated with Fox will be a great learning for us. We chose this film because of Mira Nair's expertise and the brilliant scripting. Nair, a global Indian, understands the Indian and American psyche equally well," said Ronnie Screwvala.