East Is East

"A comedy of families, a chip shop... and a very randy dog."

1999 1h 37m EN

👍

6.5

SOLID

🍅

78%

FRESH

👌

METACRITIC

⭐

6.9

IMDB

★6.5TMDB · 231🍅78%Rotten Tomatoes●74Metacritic★6.9IMDB · 20,217

DramaComedy

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

In 1971 Salford fish-and-chip shop owner George Khan expects his family to follow his strict Pakistani Muslim ways. But his children, with an English mother and having been born and brought up in Britain, increasingly see themselves as British and start to reject their father's rules on dress, food, religion, and living in general.

“A comedy of families, a chip shop... and a very randy dog.”

WhatsApp X Facebook Telegram

Where to watch · US

Google Play MoviesRent

YouTubeRent

Google Play MoviesBuy

YouTubeBuy

Cast

Om Puri
George Khan
Linda Bassett
Ella Khan
Ian Aspinall
Nazir Khan
Jimi Mistry
Tariq Khan
Archie Panjabi
Meenah Khan
Jordan Routledge
Sajid Khan
Chris Bisson
Saleem Khan
Lesley Nicol
Auntie Annie

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Damien O'Donnell
Writers: Ayub Khan-Din
Languages: Russian, Hindi, Urdu, English
Countries: United Kingdom

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Shot for just $3.8M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Made its money back 7.4× over at the box office.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

ERA

Did you know

27 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 4 languages: Russian, Hindi, Urdu, English.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

CINEMA

Did you know

Part of the "East Is East Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Damien O'Donnell, shot by Brian Tufano. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Michael Parker shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Om Puri and Linda Bassett and Ian Aspinall carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Damien O'Donnell directs. Brian Tufano behind the camera. Michael Parker cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United Kingdom. Dialogue in Russian, Hindi, Urdu, English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Shot for just $3.8M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
2Made its money back 7.4× over at the box office.
327 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
4Dialogue crosses 4 languages: Russian, Hindi, Urdu, English.
5Part of the "East Is East Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
6Directed by Damien O'Donnell, shot by Brian Tufano. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
7Editor Michael Parker shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
8Om Puri and Linda Bassett and Ian Aspinall carry the top of the cast.
9Marketing tagline: "A comedy of families, a chip shop... and a very randy dog.".
10IMDB entry: tt0166175 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
11Classified under 16 themes, including "daughter", "jealousy", "muslim", "northern england".

The technical file

Cinematography: Brian Tufano
Editing: Michael Parker
Production design: Tom Conroy
Costume design: Lorna Marie Mugan
Makeup / hair: Penny Smith
Runtime: 97 min · 1h 37m
Status: Released
Budget: $3,800,000
Box office: $28,200,000
Return: 742% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: East Is East (1999)
Rotten Tomatoes: 78% 🍅 Fresh
Metacritic: 74/100
IMDB rating: 6.9/10 · 20,217 votes
MPAA: R

Awards

Won 1 BAFTA Award16 wins & 14 nominations total

Part of

East Is East Collection

East is East Collection

Also by

Damien O'Donnell

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

CinemaSerf2025-04-17
★ 7/10
It’s early 1970s Britain and “George” (Om Puri) has been running his chip shop in Salford for many years since leaving his home (and wife) in Pakistan. Not long after he arrived after the war, he met and married “Ella” (Linda Bassett) and they’ve had half a dozen children, many of whom are now starting to become eligible for the marriage game. Though he has integrated, up to a point, he is determined to ensure that the traditions of his homeland and his faith are continued with his children. They, on the other hand, are British through and through and over the course of the next ninety minutes we see just how, in various fashions, they begin to rebel against their father’s increasingly puritanical and occasionally violent behaviour towards them and their mother. All against the background of Enoch Powell espousing his “rivers of blood” philosophy, things in this tightly knit family come to an head when the parents of prospective wives/daughters-in-law arrive for a family conference and the wheels all start to come off. It’s a very dark comedy this, and it captures the clashes of cultures and sexes entertainingly as well as quite potently at times. The actors playing the siblings deliver competently enough, but it’s the young snorkel-jacket wearing “Sajid” (Jordan Routledge) who steals the scenes as his youthfulness gives his character (and us) an unique observation point from which to watch his family turn from two adults with children into one all adults and just two children. It takes a swipe at arranged marriages, pride, snobbery and bloody-mindedness but it also pays respect to the older man’s traditions and illustrates with a degree of sympathy just how difficult he found it to adapt to the profound changes that were emerging around him and about which he had a frustrating lack of control. It’s not exactly laugh out loud funny, but it’s still an enjoyable and pithily scripted and delivered film that has more than a ring of truth to it.

Production companies