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Quite simply, American actor Kal Penn viewed The Namesake as: "The project that has meant the most to me and been the most incredible to work on so far."
He told tabloid!: "It was my favourite book and when I read it, it moved me because I felt this odd attraction to the character in the same way I did when I read The Catcher in the Rye."
Penn's belief that he should play the character led him to persistently press Mira Nair to allow him to audition. But he says his affinity with Gogol was not about sharing the experience of having Indian heritage while being American born.
"What was more interesting to me about the character was his personality," said Penn.
"The kid has a generational clash with the parents and I think that's why so many people have related to the story."
The 29-year-old actor was thrilled to work with director Nair and said she paid attention to every one of the 24 frames per second in the film.
"I have never worked with anybody that giving or that deep," he said.
"She brings this presence to everything she does and she finds beauty in every frame of the film. It allows you to thrive as an actor because you know that none of your moments are going to be ignored."
The rising star is in the middle of shooting for the new series of the award-winning television drama 24 and he will start working on a sequel to Harold and Kumar in mid-January.
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