"East is east" is A thoroughly delightful comedy that is a must watch. Its not an entire comedy, its one of the most human films brilliantly produced by Lester Udwin, radiantly directed by Damien O"Donell and giftedly written by Ayub Khan Din. It deals with very real people, people with whom a person will probably have nothing much in common, but with whom one will nevertheless identify.
The film stars, Indian film idol, Om puri, as a Pakistani patriarch, George Khan, who emigrated to England in 1947 and married an English woman, Ella marvelously played by Linda Bassett. Together, they run a very proper fish n" chips shop in Manchester. They have 6 children, all of whom, while loving their father, are simultaneously torn between his rigidly held Islamic virtues and cultural beliefs and the seductive call of the disco nightlife and women of Manchester.
The film begins by showing a typical Pakistani wedding taking place. The groom is George's eldest son Nazir (Ian Aspinall) who runs away at the altar of his totally arranged marriage by his father. When Nazir leaves his all embarrassed, he decides to get his 2 younger sons: Casanova flirt Tariq (Jimi Mistry) and straight forward Abdul (Raji James) married to Mr. Shah's snobby and unappealing daughters without their consent. It is really ironic how George didn't go back to his home country for nearly 30 years and how he himself had a love and mixed-race marriage yet he forbids his children to choose their own spouse. He is actually lost. He's living in a country thousands of miles away from his homeland. He doesn't speak the language. He's married to an English woman. They married out of love, but that created his own problems with the small Pakistani community that he has. He is a man under great strains. Also, he is so overly concerned with how his community will view him. He feels he's already committed a sin by marrying a non-Muslim. He tries so hard to have his family to be an ideal Muslim family but that is impossible due to their personal and their neighborhood's culture difference.
