This movie, which has done excellent box office in Britain and is up for most of the major BAFTA awards (including best picture, where its competition includes Notting Hill, American Beauty, and The End of the Affair) will open in the US in mid-April. It is an adaptation by Ayub Khan-Din of his play, and is directed by first-timer Damien O'Donnell.
Om Puri plays George Khan, a Pakistani who leaves his wife and family in the last '30's and emigrates to Britain. He intended to bring his family over later, but instead married a Brit (Linda Bassett). They together operate a fish and chips shop and have 7 kids. The movie is set in a housing project in the early '70's, amid a backdrop of an Indian-Pakistani war and Enoch Powell's plans to "repatriate" all immigrants.
George wants to run the household in proper Pakistani fashion, with himself as master, even to the extent of arranging marriages for his elder sons. The kids don't think of themselves as Pakistanis, but rather Brits and assert their rights to choose their own paths. The resulting family squabbles (reminiscent of Fiddler on the Roof) are mixed well with some very low comedy, and both succeed. 3 1/2 planets (out of 4).
