THE MOVING PICTURE BOY ARCHIVE

WEST IS WEST

Title: West is West
Year of release: 2010
Director: Andy De Emmony
Screenwriter: Ayub Khan-Din, who also wrote the script for East is East (1999), to which West is West is the sequel
Country of Production: Britain
Genre: Comedy, drama, Coming-of-age
Length: 1 hour 42 minutes
Language: English
Availability: Blu-ray release

Principal boy actors: Aqib Khan (below, left) as Sajid and Raj Bhansali (below, right) as Zaid, the boy with whom Sajid makes friends in Pakistan

Synopsis
In this excellent sequel to 1999's East is East, it is 1976, and Sajid, the youngest member of the Khan family living in Salford in the north of England, bunks off from school due to his being a target of racist bullies. The school's headmaster is sympathetic to Sajid, and encourages him to embrace his Pakistani heritage; but when Sajid is caught shoplifting, his father, George, decides to 'sort him out' by taking him back to Pakistan to acquaint him with the Pakistani roots that all Sajid's siblings, with the exception of Maneer who lives in Pakistan, seem to have rejected in their embrace of British culture. In Pakistan, whilst George confronts a wife and family that he abandoned 35 years ago, Sajid gradually grows into a mature and emotionally well balanced adolescent under the guidance of a wise old Sufi, Pir Naseem (played by Nadim Sawalha).

A brief interview with Aqib Khan (Sajid), Om Puri (George), Andy De Emmony (director), and Leslee Udwin (producer) can be viewed in Youtube here.

Production photo, showing Aqib Khan (astride water buffalo) as Sajid and Raj Bhansali as Zaid


Screenshots