Review of West Is West

They say good things take time and this belated follow up to the 1999 hit East is East has been over a decade in the coming. Happy to say the wait has been worthwhile and writer Ayub Khan-Din has written a sequel that is every bit as much involving, fun and moving as the original. It's 1976 and Salford chip shop owner's George Khan(Om Puri)'s youngest son Sajid (Aqib Khan)- one of the offspring of his second marriage to feisty white northerner Ella (Linda Basset) is having a tough time at school and becoming a bit of a rebel. Determined to sort the lad out out George whips him off to the home town he himself hasn't been back to in 30 years in rural Pakistan. There he meets a slew of relatives including the Mrs Khan number 1 (Ila Aran) as well as Sajid's brother Maneer (Emil Marwa) who has been unsuccessfully searching for a wife. A series of tragi-comic events follow as Sajid's learns some important life lessons. George meanwhile faces something of an identity crises as he is forced to confront both his past and present. Following up Damian O'Donnel's 1999 original was never going to be an easy task but director produces a follow up that is worthy successor to the original. Performances are excellent across the board with the likes of Nadeem Sawalha, Lesley Nichol, Robert Pugh, Zita Sattar and Raj Bhansali, playing excellent supporting roles. There's a brief but amusing cameo by Jimmi Mistry who reprises his role as Sajid's elder brother Tariq but we don't get to find out what became of his other brothers Saleem, Abdul, Nazir and sister Meenah. Though with Khan-Din talking about a third film in the series hopefully we will get to find out in the next installment. All in all this is an excellent film which takes a light hearted but thought provoking look at themes of family,culture and identity.