East Is East

what a bloody funny film. classic British drama/comedy. Watching cultures come together in a very cynical era was eye opening and captivating. You bloody kids!! (fab quote)

What a cracker. I've seen this film a million times and I could watch it a million more. Capures Asian Britain brilliant, gives you a right good laugh, but look a little deeper and there's quite a deep storyline going on.

The first half of the film is very funny - we giggled all the way through. Then something not-at-all-funny happens in the film, which changes your perception of a main character, and the comedy stops. It tries to start up again but given what's gone before, it's difficult to laugh. And so the film wanders along to a conclusion of sorts.

All in all, this feels like two films welded together. Problem is, the join is showing.

I was twelve years old when ‘East Is East’ first hit the cinema and, thirteen years later, this still holds up in my eyes as one of the best social commentaries on British life. Set in the seventies, the film follows the lives of George Khan (Om Puri), wife Ella (Linda Bassett), and their seven children. George is an overbearing and domineering father, but his inability to listen to his family starts to tear them apart.

I might be biased, being a British Asian myself, but I love this movie. Yes, it’s funny. It’s unbelievably funny, an excellent portrayal of North England in the 1970s. But what I love most about this film is just how frighteningly realistic it is. This is a family that I see even today, struggling through the exact same problems. It could so easily have been a pastiche, and it wasn’t, thankfully.

Of course, the performances are fantastic across the board. Om Puri is a legend in India, and he is stunning in this. Linda Bassett is always great, and the kids are great too. I’d go as far as to argue that actors like Jimi Mistry and Archie Panjabi would never reach the heights they have now had it not been for ‘East Is East’.

You can watch this as a British comedy, and you won’t be disappointed. This is as funny as ‘The Full Monty’ and ‘Billy Elliott’. But, like those two films, it should also be seen as a snapshot of where Britain was, and where it is now. A brilliant movie.

I enjoyed this the first time and seeing it again after a long time was nearly as fun. There are some familiar faces who have since made quite a name for themselves in the acting world and it's nice to see them in their early days.