The Hindu : Sport : A homecoming of sorts for George

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Jun 12, 2011
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Sport

Sport

A homecoming of sorts for George

NOT ENOUGH BITE:The sequel doesn't want to examine the fault lines, preferring happy endings.

West is West (English)

Cast: Om Puri, Linda Bassett, Aqib Khan, Ila Arun

Director: Andy DeEmmony

West is West is the much-anticipated sequel to the British film East is East, Damien O'Donnell's sleeper hit in 1999. The original film was set in 1971 and revolved around the ethnically mixed family of Pakistani immigrant George/Jehangir Khan (Om Puri), his British wife, Ella (Linda Bassett), and their seven children. All the other Khans struggled with George's tyrannical injunctions to replicate a strict Pakistani way of life in England — especially the children.

In West is West, we pick up a few years later, in 1975. The focus now is George's youngest son, the teenage Sajid Khan (played well by Aqib Khan), who is bullied in school for being a “Paki” and is a bit of a delinquent as a result. George decides the only way to straighten him out is to take him back to his old home in Pakistan, ostensibly for a holiday. Pakistan turns out to be picture postcard-like, complete with rustic landscapes and even a mysteriously, mystic old man. But what George hasn't quite reckoned is that his old residence still houses his first wife, Mrs. Khan 1 (Ila Arun) and children — the family he hasn't seen in some 30 years. The film has its mildly funny moments, as in the character of Sajid's school dean (Robert Pugh), ex-army and deeply nostalgic about Rudyard Kipling.

There are also flashes of poignancy such as a marvellous scene between Mrs. Khan 1 and Mrs. Khan 2 — where neither can speak the other's language but communicate with an understanding that goes deeper than words.

Om Puri is fabulous as always; the mixture of anger, incomprehension and bluster that powered George in part one is still there — but mellowed considerably. This is symptomatic of part two, which doesn't really want to examine the fault lines and prefers happy endings.

PARVATHI NAYAR

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Sport