Customs and Cultures Collide in Affectionate, Comic ‘East Is East’

In the last two decades Om Puri has become one of India’s major screen actors and now he’s emerging as an international star as well. In the acclaimed British comedy “My Son the Fanatic” he was a nonreligious taxi driver whose life is turned upside down when his son becomes an Islamist. Now, in “East Is East,” he’s the traditionalist, the Pakistani proprietor of a Manchester fish and chips shop, married 25 years to an Englishwoman (Linda Bassett), who has borne him seven children.

The couple live in Salford, a redbrick row-house working-class neighborhood; the time is 1971. If Puri’s George Khan is a bit bombastic, Bassett’s Ella, an earthy, chain-smoking redhead, has the spunk to talk back to him. George is a loving, hard-working responsible man but his by and large happy household is about to be plunged into crisis.

The cultural give-and-take in the Khan family has been reasonably workable--never mind that George left a first wife back in Pakistan when he emigrated in 1937 or that he married an Englishwoman--but now that his eldest sons are reaching adulthood, George reverts to a passionate adherence to custom. Without consulting anyone, he has arranged the marriage of his eldest son, Nazir (Ian Aspinall), to a Pakistani girl. Just as Nazir is about to say “I do” to a woman he has never before seen--she proves to be a beauty, however--he panics and announces he can’t go through with the ceremony. He runs off and is instantly considered dead by his father.

Scant time passes before George is arranging the marriages of his next eldest sons, Tariq (Jimi Mistry), a handsome disco king, and the seemingly dutiful Abdul (Raji James), to two homely but well-off sisters. It’s at this point “East Is East,” adapted by Ayub Khan-Din from his semi-autobiographical play, begins moving from raucous comedy to volatile drama. George’s stubbornness brings to the surface his family’s deep resentment that he’s never really listened to any of them. “East Is East” is above all a man’s confrontation with self in middle-age and his need to accept the fact that his children, beyond their mixed ancestry, are after all native-born English citizens.

It is, therefore, natural they will rebel against arranged marriages, a custom from a distant land that they have never seen and that goes completely against the grain of the free society in which they’ve been raised. George truly believes that he’s doing what is best for his sons while forgetting that he defied tradition himself in marrying their mother.

For a film that is essentially a comedy, and one with some very broad strokes at that, “East Is East” nonetheless allows the craggy, forceful Puri to discover some Lear-like dimensions in George, who is as capable of violence as he is of affection, and is a man torn apart by his refusal to comprehend the reality of his family’s life or his own chauvinist nature. Similarly, Ella is forced to accept that her spunkiness is superficial--that she is either going to have to give in completely to her husband or to stand up to him bravely and without fear of consequences. Like Puri, Bassett is more than up to the challenges of playing this sensible, loving woman.

Khan-Din and director Damien O’Donnell do a masterful job in making this stage adaptation seem completely cinematic, and amid much rowdy humor and emotional fireworks, “East Is East” never loses sight of what’s going on in the world outside of the Khan home. George responds with anguished concern to India’s aggression in East Pakistan, and the film takes note of an English politician’s repatriation--i.e., back to Pakistan (and India) scheme, indicative of a persistent racism that confronts the Khans--indeed, an old man who lives across the street from them refers to Pakistanis as “pickaninnies.” The American-flavored pop culture so embraced by the Khan children is also noted, with the affection that permeates the entire picture, embracing as best as it can, even George, understanding that he means well, even in the throes of his worst behavior.

* MPAA rating: R, for language, sexual content and some domestic violence. Times guidelines: The film’s violent scenes, though brief and valid, are too intense for children.

‘East Is East’

Om Puri: George Khan

Linda Bassett: Ella Khan

Jimi Mistry: Tariq Khan

Raji James: Abdul Khan

A Miramax Films release of a Film Four presentation of an Assassin Films production. Director Damien O’Donnell. Producer Leslee Udwin. Executive producer Alan J. Wands. Screenplay by Ayub Khan-Din. Cinematographer Brian Tufano. Editor Michael Parker. Music Deborah Mollison. Costumes Lorna Marie Mugan. Production designer John Paino. Art director Henry Harris. Set decorator Eliza Solesbury. Running time: 1 hour, 36 minutes.

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