East is East - a personal response.

How many times have I seen East is East? Probably five on the last count. It’s a compelling film with a fantastic blend of visual gags (art student Saleem’s lovingly created model of female genitalia sent into orbit in the family living room) and blinding one liners (wide boy Tariq’s pondering on the racist, political climate and whether "We could have a whip round and get our Dad repatriated.")

East is East is Ayub Khan-Din’s semi-autobiographical story of his seventies family life in Salford, Manchester. George Khan, a devoted Muslim and proud chip shop owner is struggling to keep his house and family in order with more than a little help from his long-suffering white wife, Ella. Their seven rebellious children are growing up and growing out in varying directions, away from the strict upbringing their father would like to see result in arranged marriages and a respectable place in the established immigrant community.

What is a delight in the film is the quality of the script steeped in funny, trenchant dialogue such as Tariq’s belligerence toward his parents, "Well you can both fuck off if you think I’m getting married to a fucking Paki." There’s also the poignant humour of the world viewed through young Sajid’s telescope of a parka hood. Less subtle is the brutal farce of the neighbourhood randy dog’s interest in peroxide blond Stella (Tariq’s girlfriend) and her best mate, the somewhat plump Peggy. From this it’s easy to gather that the film’s joyful irreverence is no more restrained than the Farelly brothers’, Dumb and Dumber or There’s Something About Mary.

There’s also the superb acting of Om Puri playing George and Linda Bassett as Ella his wife. Ella is a strong Lancastrian mother preoccupied with keeping everybody happy, and if not happy then at least fed and coping. The film opens with a big Catholic parade in which her children are taking part. Ella notices that her husband has come out of his shop to watch and so diverts her kids onto a route where they can rejoin the procession unnoticed by George. Ella saves the day as she does everyday of her life for her children. George, in his frustration to be obeyed and respected by his family beats both his kids and his wife who in the end must fight back. The film closes on a broken George as his steadfast wife asks him if he would like a cup of tea. Finally craving peace, he agrees with his usual accession of "half a cup."

Scooped up by major film distributor Miramax, the marketing campaign behind East is East successfully positioned the production as a film about generation and culture clash within an extremely likeable Anglo-Eastern family that appeals to all cultures. The campaign devices employed the heavy use of said mutt in posters (and toning down the Asian element) appealing to the ‘Loaded’ crowd and so gaining a far wider audience than a film like this would normally attract. So, everyone loves East is East. Maybe.

I do find myself wondering if this really is the best that British Asian cinema can do? Aren’t these immigrant issues of ‘culture clash’ and ‘generation gap’ rather old and tired? I grew up in the seventies in which East is East is set. The difficulties provoked by intolerance toward race relations were a reality but that was thirty years ago. There are still huge, related problems, but race is observed with a little more scrutiny and sensitivity these days. You only have to look inside today’s classrooms now preparing for Eid and Divali with the same gusto as they look forward to Christmas. The tolerance has filtered through to some but not all of society. Older generations are teaching today’s children of the global cultures practiced around the world and children’s interest and acceptance is teaching adults that a child’s world doesn’t have to be in black and white.

So what’s going on? Why are we singing the praises of yesterday’s big headlines, the anxieties of yesteryear? While those concerns have not disappeared we’re paradoxically taking greater note of their significance. Perhaps it’s also a retro thing because Asians didn’t have the platform in the seventies when these issues were current. Only now with the strides that have been made, can they be aired.

Or is British Asian cinema just part of the wider obsession of British culture with nostalgia? Udayan Prasad’s Brothers In Trouble (1995) is set in the early 1960s where protagonist Amir, an innocent newcomer, is smuggled into the UK in a vegetable crate as an illegal immigrant. A time when race law in Britain was yet to be invented. Similarly East is East, set in the following decade, covers a wide expanse of retro ground. What’s wrong with NOW? With the present era? Nostalgia seems to be one theme Asian British filmmakers are clinging to fast and furiously. Prasad’s later piece My Son The Fanatic (1997) seems a more relevant piece of filmmaking not least because it’s set in the here and now.

East is East may be aimed at a young and mixed cultural audience but I suspect that to most members of that crowd the gags will only stand up to a single telling. Also today’s Asians may have the issues of the seventies and older buried in the psyche somewhere but they may also be more concerned with mortgages, taxes, to which nursery to send their own children, where to go skiing next spring. The old, tired issues of the first generation are important but are placed further down one’s list of priorities as time and attitudes move on.

Is British Asian culture fully integrated? No and perhaps it never will be or should be. East and West are only going to meet half way and no more. Why should one culture be assimilated into another? Both will be eager to protect their own identity and children of mixed origins may be keen to maintain the best of both worlds. The struggle to do that is beautifully explored in Goodness Gracious Me which assumes a more sophisticated familiarity with Asian culture on the part of the audience. (I too can identify my own parents as people who dismiss high restaurant prices when they’re convinced they "can make it at home!" )

GGM has been ground breaking in terms of reshaping the perceived Asian identity not only as bilingual people of a different creed and who know how to create a fine korma but as people who demand recognition in the world of the media, sport, politics and who often have a sharp sense of humour. Admittedly, GGM is at last looking a little dog-earred but hopefully will give way to new and more daring successors in the future.

East is East may be more televisual than cinematic, perhaps because it hasn’t translated to the big screen from the stage terribly well. It does however, represent a gratefully received indication that we’re now a million miles away from the rather offensive comedy attempts of the past. Works such as Love Thy Neighbour about a white couple (one of whom was drastically racist) and their difficulties living next door to a black couple. Or perhaps worse, Mind Your Language in which a pale, endearing and, of course, white English teacher desperately tries to teach a bunch of foreigners with funny accents how to speak the Queen’s tongue. The liveliness and irreverence of East is East’s treatment of culture clash at least highlights how unthinkable these seventies sitcoms would be today. We’ve moved on.

Though I’m quite a big fan of East is East I still have concerns about taking my mother along to see it the next time it comes around. My uncle thought it was hysterical and returned it to the video shop only after watching it three more times. But I feel a little uneasy about exposing my Mum to the sight of uninterested half-Muslims mispronouncing their ‘Namaz’ [Arabic prayer that my mother forced me to learn, along with, I’m sure, every good Muslim child]. Also, Bollywood heroes having the piss ripped out of them so mercilessly and finally the now famous ‘flying pudenda.’ On the other hand she may really want to see the Khan kids torn between East and West yet standing with more determination to thrive than ever. She may sympathise with Ella, a mother relentless in her constant battle to protect her children and maybe even George a true despot, misunderstood, ruthless, who must learn the hard way to love what he and his beloved family are becoming. Thinking about it, I might take my Mum along to see it sometime after all.

Raheela Raza-Syed
October 2000