This film had been recommended to me by many friends and contacts, don't know why I never caught it before, but so glad i did...deffo hire this
A great social comedy/drama that cleverly manages to be very funny whilst also dealing with some very serious issues including racism, forced child circumcision, domestic violence, arranged marriage and homophobia. That sounds quite a list but as this is a story of a mixed race family in early 1970s Salford the issues are treated as everyday occurrences and in some cases just an accepted part of their lives. For instance the racism elements here are the continual use of racist name calling that pervades society and was the norm in 70s Britain. This is essentially a clash of cultures narrative with family patriarch George Khan (Om Puri), a Pakistani immigrant, who has married an English woman, Ella (Linda Bassett) and they've had seven children. The couple have built a small fish and chips shop business but live in a small terraced house with no bathroom or inside toilet, a common thing in England at this time. George expects his children and his wife to be obedient to him but the issue is the children are fully English and reject his control. This leads to some serious problems in the family as Ella has to try and keep her family together whilst restraining George from losing control as he struggles with the loss of status in the local Pakistani community. His attempts to marry his sons to the daughters of other families is met with failure, a major catastrophe for him personally. The children who range is age from mid 20s to the youngest of 10 are constantly on their guard against their father finding out the little ways they revolt against his wishes. There are laugh out loud moments but also some very serious scenes as George more and more loses his control. This is a very thoughtful and clever film and viewed today it really hits home with the frightening impact of the cultural clash and the rejection of religious dominance over the lives of young anglicised children of immigrants. This is often a film billed as comedy, and in many ways it is yet it's also a serious family drama. It's definitely a film to revisit if its been awhile since you've seen it.