West Is West

Leslee Udwin

Director

Andy DeEmmony

Screenplay

Ayub Khan-Din

Cast

Om Puri,Linda Bassett,Ila Arun,Jimi Mistry,Vijay Raaz

Release Date June 10

West Is West,an English cross-over film extensively shot in

Chandigarh,comes to India after a successful run in United

Kingdom,where the film is currently in its 13th week of release. Set five years after the release of East Is East,the sequel takes the Khan family on a journey from Salford,England to Pakistan. Sajid (Aqib Khan),who is now a teenager is having a terrible time at school and at home,and to deal with his problems he develops the habit of lying and stealing. In hope that his son will change,George (Om Puri) sends Sajid back to his roots: Pakistan,for a dose of decent values.

After the success of East Is East,director Andy De Emmony and writer Ayub Khan Din have relocated the action to a far-off South East Asian sub-continent.

The buzz

* East Is East won 36 international awards including the BAFTA,Indian Film Festival Award,and Special Prize at Cannes,where it played to a standing ovation in the official selection of Director’s Fortnight. The prequel is also believed to have been introduced in the curriculum of some European schools. West Is West had its world premiere at a gala screening at the Toronto Film Festival. It was also the opening film at the International Film Festival of India (IFFI)

* For the music of the film,the filmmakers have tweaked in Western music with traditional Indian numbers including Kaala doriya and Mere saiyyan. The film also has music from British icons of the seventies,including Nana Mouskouri,Donovan and Mungo Jerry

*The prequel East Is East was a hilarious tragic-comedy based on Ayub Khan-Din’s play about the marriage between proud Ella (Linda Bassett) and a proud Pakistani George (Om Puri)

* Aqib Khan,who plays the role of Sajid in West Is West,is a Bradford teenager. The young lad landed the role after one of his teachers read about the character sketch of Sajid and asked him to audition for the role