An interview with Jhumpa Lahiri

One of the great gifts that Mira has given to me is, you know, when I write something, I give it everything that I can, but at the same time, I’m very removed from it, and when it’s done, it ceases to matter to me.  I’ve never gone back to something I’ve written and been affected by it because by that point it’s so completely out of my system.  I’m not going to go to my own writing to have those experiences, I’m going to go to others’ writing for those experiences.

So for the first time I was able to experience something I had written and have any reaction to it.  It was the first time I saw something and it was her movie and it was different. but it was essentially something that I’d written that had percolated in me for years and years and had taken a long time to write and all that stuff and the characters and it was true enough to my book, and I saw it and I was moved.

With The Namesake release around the corner, Filmiholic interviews Jhumpa Lahiri.