East Is East

East Is East (1999) is a British comedy-drama you can watch online on iFILM. Set in Salford in 1971 — flared trousers, Deep Purple on the radio, chips frying in the back — it follows George Khan (Om Puri), a Pakistani immigrant who runs a chip shop and fully expects his seven children to live by strict traditional Muslim values. Director Damien O'Donnell adapts Ayub Khan-Din's semi-autobiographical play without letting the story settle into something comfortable.

George's kids have a British mother (Linda Bassett), British friends, and very little patience for arranged marriages or religious dress codes they never asked for. The conflict between two cultures inside one household is played for laughs — but also with real anger and real hurt on both sides. The film picked up several BAFTA nominations and found a wide audience well outside the British Asian community. Stream East Is East (1999) online on iFILM.