Sooni Taraporevala, Tabu, Jhumpa Lahiri and Mira Nair; (below) Sandip Ray, Mahendra Kumar and Ritoban Ghatak. Pictures by Aranya Sen

It is a “see-saw of two great cities of the world” and Tuesday saw The Namesake being screened for the first time in one of those two cities.

Set in Calcutta and New York, true to the words penned by Jhumpa Lahiri in her best-selling novel, Mira Nair’s new film got quite a reception at the packed Priya cinema hall off Deshapriya Park.

What made the evening extra special was the presence of the four leading ladies behind the film — author Jhumpa, director Mira, leading lady Tabu and Mira’s longtime script collaborator Sooni Taraporevala, who has adapted The Namesake.

“It feels just superb to come back to Calcutta,” gushed Mira. “It is here that I saw my first film Hatari at the age of eight, at the Metro cinema hall,” she recalled.

The “mother of the evening” was Jhumpa, who had come with “at least 40” of her family and friends.

“We started out as colleagues but by the end of it all, we were close friends,” Mira said.

“After reading her work I had realised that there was at least someone out there who could understand how it was to live in two worlds,” added the filmmaker.

Mira introduced Tabu as an “extraordinarily mesmerising actress”. Looking exquisite in pink, the Chandni Bar star appeared very different from her screen avatar Ashima Ganguli, seen only in saris.

“The Namesake is special to me as it is my second Bengali film (after Abar Aranye) and I am not even a Bengali,” smiled Tabu.

The evening, like the film, was dedicated to Satyajit Ray and Ritwik Ghatak, “the gurus of cinema”, according to Mira. Their sons Sandip Ray and Ritoban Ghatak were both felicitated by Mira.

The screening got off to a stuttering start with the projectionist not getting the aspect ratio right and the frames came in square rather than the intended horizontal shapes, forcing Mira to leave the theatre “in torment”. But two hours later, the packed theatre, which included everyone from Aparna Sen and Sohag Sen to Mahasweta Devi and Bickram Ghosh, was applauding the sheer artistry of the maker.

From the titles in Bengali to the liberal sprinkling of Bengali dialogues to the familiar city streets, it was very much a ‘local’ film, but of international standing.

So The Namesake, which Mira calls her “first Bengali film from/in America”, got off to a great start — technical glitch notwithstanding — in the city “where it all began”. The rest of Calcutta must wait till end-March.