Actors and Action

Here, I want to give some background information about the film "East is East" of Damien O'Donnel.
In the following videos you won't only see some little interviews with the main actors, but also interviews with Damien himself, with Ayub Khan-Din, the writer of the story, and with the producer, LesleeUdwin. There the actors will characterize their role and the other people will talk about how the film is made:

Om Puri (George Khan):



Linda Bassett (Ella Khan):



Raji James (Abdul Khan):



Jimy Mistry (Tariq Khan):



Emil Marwa (Maneer Khan):



Chris Bisson (Maneer Khan):



Jordan Routledge (Sajid Khan):



Damien O'Donnell (director):



Ayub Khan-Din (script):



Leslee Udwin (producer):



Moreover, I'll give you some biographical information about the main actors:

Om Puri who plays George and who's the most successfull and famous actor of the film, is born in 1950. So he was 49 years old when the movie was filmed.
He plays first in 1976 ("Ghashiram Kotwal") and until now he plays in a large number of films. The recent film he plays in is the Punjabi film "Yaariyan" (2008).
Om won also some Awards. Second times (1982 and 1984) he won the National Film Award for Best Actor of India and one time (1981) he won the Filmfare Best Supporting Actor Award (anual award for Hindi films). Moreover he was nominated for the BAFTA (The British Academy of Film and Television Arts) because of his role in "East is East".


Linda Bassett plays Ella Khan, the wife of George. She was born in 1950 as a policeman's daughter and lived her childhood in the South of London. On leaving school Linda went to work at the Old Vic as an usherette and catering manager. Although she was a well-regarded stage performer it was the 1999 film version of the play 'East is East' (in which she had been an original stage cast member) which brought her to a larger audience, and throughout the 2000s she has been a familiar face in a variety of films and television series.

Jordan Routledge plays the little Sajid. Until know, he only played in two films: "East is East" and "Gabriel and Me".

Meenah is played by Archie Panjabi . She spent part of her childhood in Bombay and the other part in Britain. In fact she based the character Gemma/Jessminder in "A Good Year" (2006). Archie always knew that she wanted to become an actress. She graduated from Brunel University, England, with a 2:1. Moreover she won the Awarded Shooting Star Award at the Berlin International Film Festival 2005. She was selected from hundreds of actors to represent the UK and she won Best Actress for her role in Yasmin at the Reims Festival in 2006.

Emil Marva, woh plays the character of Maneer, is born in 1974 as child of a Norwegian mother and a Sikh from Kenya. Until now, he plays in a huge number of TV soaps like "Murphy's law" (Bash). Nevertheless, two new movies in which Emil plays, "A Distant Mirage" and "Tuesday", are in production.

Chris Brisson is Saleem. He comes from the theatre and is not shown in other films until now. Nevertheless, he plays a little role in the second series of "I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here" (TV).

Tariq is played by Jimi Mistri who was born in 1973 in Scarborough (Yorkshire). His father is Indian and his mother is Irish and he was brought up in a strict catholic way. He trained at the Birmingham School of Speech & Drama. He has a child, called Ellin, with his wife Meg Mistry. He appears at first in 1999 ("East is East") and now he played in more than 20 films and more than 10 TV episodes. Further on, he sang the soundtrack of "The Guru" in which he's the protagonist.

Raji James plays the charcter of Abdul, the second eldest son of the Khan family. In 1970 He's born in London. Now he has two children, called Shannon (b. 1994) and Riley (b. 2002).
Raji is an actor for TV episodes. Until now he was seen in more than 30 different roles on the TV screen.

Nazir is played by Ian Aspinall. He was born in Bolton (1961). He likes fencing and swimming and plays guitar. Moreover, he's a fan of the Beatles and Oasis. Also Ian plays in a lot of different TV episodes. The role he plays the longest time is Mubbs Hussein in "Holby City".

Secret engagements and the dolour of Maneer

Summary:

A really important scene of the film “East is East” of Damien O'Donnell is the scene when Sajid, the youngest son of the family, discloses his secret to his elder brothers and his sister, Meenah. His secret – that Tariq and Abdul were engaged with Pakistanis by their father George – shocks all the children profoundly.

Especially Tariq can't believe Sajid, he runs to the fathers chest where he finds a lot of clothes belonging to a traditional Pakistani marriage, then he begins to dig into the chest and destroys angrily one of the watches he finds.

He accuses Maneer, the religious brother who's also called Ghandi, because he thinks that he knows about the engagements, but yonder refuses this vehemently. The other siblings try to calm Tariq when he returns to the chest in order to destroy other marriage utilities until Sajid sees the father coming down the street. Everybody runs hectically away except Maneer. He returns to the chest and tries to reorder the marriage clothes.

George comes into his room and sees how Maneer tries hectically to hide what happens. He becomes angry and takes his son and brings him to the chip shop where Ella works. When she sees her son she's confused and tries to defend him against the fathers beats and hits. Therefore she's beaten by George.

Analysis of the camera techniques and the music:

This scene is a very dramatic and sad scene. Abdul and Tariq should marry a women they don't know. Nazir, the eldest son of the family had to do this in an earlier scene of the film and now he's considered as dead because he couldn't live with the decision that he has to marry. So it is very explainable why Tariq is absolutely shocked by the secret of Sajid. He's sad, he's afraid of the future and hates his father trying to decide his whole life, he's disappointed and can't believe what happens. All this tragic feelings are shown through a lot of close-up shots of Tariq which are used in order to let the spectator identify with his feelings and at least with hisself.

In addition to this a dramatical music underlines the sadness and the disappointment all the children go through. Also the quick succession of different shots and angles (for example: low angle to eye-level shot; medium shots, close up shots of different characters) raises the tension and hectic.

Furthermore the destruction of the watch by Tariq which is shown in an extreme close up shot draws the hate of Tariq against George because yonder always tries to convince and to encourage his children with presents like watches. Through the watch Tariq really reveals to the viewer that he doesn't want to be encouraged and then do what his father wants, but he wants to be free in his own decisions.

When Maneer tries to tidy up the room and to take back the things Tariq threw away, he's shown through an overhead shot one time. Here this shot is important because it shows how helpless and how lost Maneer is in this situation. He's a little point in the room, the stuff for the marriage lies all around and his father is coming quickly. One feels that there's no chance for him to hide what's happen.

Moreover when George and Maneer begin to have a conversation in the room, Maneer is very often shown in an high angle position which even shows the helplessness of him. He doesn't want to betray Tariq, but as a consequence he has to stand the beats and the questions of his father (e.g. “Who do this?”).

Also during this aggressive sequence of the scene the spectator is directed through a music that should reveal feelings of compassion and sadness. Deep and slowly sounds conduct the scene until the end.

At least another aspect of the camera technique seems important to me in this scene: When Ella defends his son and becomes the victim of Georges anger herself, there's other than the beats of George a deep conflict between them. For the story of the film the conflict is very important because here Ella says something against George the first time. Therefore during this conflict one should notice well the feelings of both of the parents. So the conclusion is that there are a lot of close up shots again showing nearly the facial expressions of the actors.

All in all one can say that this scene is a very sad scene and shows that the comic film “East is East” deals with serious problems a second generation of immigrants can have. They often live between two worlds and one time in their life they have to decide whether they want to keep their historical family tradition or whether they want to join the culture of the country they live in. This decision often destroys families and generations.

The circumcision of Sajid

One part of the film deals with the circumcision of Sajid, the youngest boy of the family who's 12 years old. Normally this would be done earlier, but in this case the parents of Sajid, George and Ella, forgot about his circumcision. Nevertheless George catches up on that directly when it attracts attention to the mullah in the mosque.

It is very interesting to analyse how all the family members deal with this kind of taboo topic because such an analysis can reveal a lot about a characters standpoint.

George:

During the scene he talks about religious and social reasons which allow a circumcision. He's convinced that a foreskin doesn't belong to a man. For him it is an ugly and disgusting skin that has to be cut. Especially his choice of words shows that: “...your son got bloody tickle-tackle..”

Here one can really find a lot of typical attitudes of the character of George. His religion and his reputation is very important for him. By his will to wed his eldest son, Nazeer, and afterwords Tariq and Abdul, he shows that he wants his children to keep his Pakistani traditions alive. He thinks that therefore his children will become happy but this a fatal error.

Ella:

For Ella a circumcision isn't as important as for George. She isn't Muslim, so there's no religious law saying to her that having a foreskin is forbidden. Nevertheless he doesn't say anything against the circumcision of Sajid although she sees that Sajid fears the operation. That's why she says to him: “It is only a little operation. It won't hurt.”

After the circumcision Ella regrets a bit that she let George be and doesn't says anything against the operation. She asks her friend Annie whether she's a good mother. That shows a conflict in her: On the one hand she loves her husband, but on the other hand she also loves her children who fear her husband because he wants them to do things they doesn't want to. So she really doesn't know what she should do. She's caught between to stools. Should she agree with George or should she help her children and be against her husbands decisions?

Sajid:

Sajid really fears the operation. He locks himself in the little cabin in the backyard. This action just as his jacket that he wears in the whole film shows that he's introverted, so he doesn't want to show his penis to other people or to let it cut by other people although it wouldn't hurt.

Meenah:

In a discussion with her elder brothers Meenah asks essential questions (“Why do they cut them off?”). It shows that she's not informed about circumcisions. She only sees that she can tease Sajid with this issue, so she rips the drawing of Saleem after the circumcision in front of Sajids eyes.

Maneer:

Maneer is a very religious character. That's why he wears a religious cap and sandals. In addition to that he's called Ghandi because of his deep relationship to the Islam.

So his attitude to the foreskin and the circumcision is that “foreskin is dirty”.

Saleem:

Saleem doesn't think like Maneer about foreskin. For him, if it is dirty, it won't be there. He draws a penis with foreskin and says that the foreskin protects the end of a penis. So he thinks very positively about it.

The fact that Saleem draws a penis shows that she really likes to draw. In a special college he learns to draw secretly because his father doesn't allows it.

Tariq:

Tariq considers the foreskin as disadvantageous during the sex. Without foreskin your feeling would be better during the sex. Therefore it is cut away, he explains to Meenah.

Also the attitude of Tariq shows a lot about his character. He really likes to have sex, to kiss and to party. He's a kind of womaniser. That one can find out in the scenes where Tariq kisses Stella intensively and in the scene where he and Abdul go to a disco in Bradford.

Wedding of Nazir (6:59 - 9:23)

Summary:
In todays lesson we talked about the wedding of Nazir, the oldest son of the Khan family. Nazir should marry traditionally. So he never sees his pride before. That's why the tension and the agitation of all the people taking part of the festivity is really high. First everybody talks loudly and then all people become quiet when the pride hidden behind a veil comes in the hall where the ceremony takes place. She sits down next to Nazir and her mother raises her veil. Also the veil of Nazir is raised by his sibling, Abdul.
When the mother of the pride gives as a ritual a golden ball to Nazir, Nazir rejects it, removes hectically his traditional hut and runs off against his fathers will. All the people are shocked.
Back in the house, one can see that Nazir is removed from the family portrait.

Analysis:
During the wedding ceremony one can feel a tense and uneasy, but also ceremonial atmosphere. This atmosphere is given to the spectator through bright colours and different stylistic devices of camera operations and sound effects.
At first there's a traditional Arabic music which underlines through its staccato of drums and through murmerings in the background the raising tension of the scene. This gets its climax when the pride comes in. Therefore the music and the murmerings stop abruptly. When the pride sits the tension is kept high through an Arabic chant. Not until Nazir rejetcts the ball, one can hear a single beat of a drum. This underlines that there's happening something abnormal and that the wedding begins to lose its aim. More staccato drum beats follow quicklier and quicklier and one hears the hectic of the scene. In the end tragical sounds underline the drama that Nazir runs away.
However, the sound is not the only thing which is urging to analysed. At first, there are particularly in the first part of the scene a lot of medium shots and full shots introducing time, place and characters to the spectator. For example there's a kind of wedding manager with sun glasses and a ruby coloured jacket introduced in a medium shot which directs the incomming people.
In addition to that, close up shots to faces and establishing shots or so called point of view shots, mainly of Nazir, express tense and uneasy feelings the spectator can identify with.
The golden ball is shown in an close up shot of Nazirs hand and the little ball so that one can easily see the rejection of Nazir through his hand.
To put it in a nutshell, the spector isn't only able to see this scene, he will take part in it, sometimes as a guest through observant shots or as one of the caracters through point of view shots. Moreover through the hearing of fitting sound effects he's kept to feel this scene in two different sense, through his eyes and ears.

Religion and Culture (the procession scene)

The procession:

In the first scene of the film “East is East” by Om Puri one can see a Christian procession with a crucifix, a Madonna figure and lots of flags, in an English working class neighbourhood. The shown people, even young people with a Muslim appearance, smile and one hears happy music. Then a typically English woman appears and a typically Muslim man is shown observing the procession. They're obviously the parents of the young Muslim looking people. So when the mother tells his children that the father comes back from mosque to watch the procession, they begin to ran hectically into a parallel street to hide.

During the mother rejoins to the father, the children bypass them and return back to the procession.

Analyse of the colour, sound and camera techniques:

The first scene of the film contains two important messages which are underlined through colours, sounds and camera techniques. At first, the film creates a relaxed and cheerful atmosphere which is hidden by the appearance of the father and the fear of his children to be seen.

However, this scene never loses all of its happiness because of the music playing during the whole scene. It is a catchy song with trumpets, drums and a choir dealing with processions and Christian religion. Therefore the music fits also to the content of the film.

As another aspect a few people are shown in a close-up shot with smiling and grinning face revealing happiness and pride to be part of the procession.

On top of that the procession is very colourful. The little Muslim boy showers confetti, and also the flags, banners and other material for the procession let us see many colours. Even this is a mean to show happiness.

The fear of the children is demonstrated mostly through the action and camera techniques. Particularly Meenah, the girl with the crucifix, loses her grin in all of a sudden in a medium shot. There's a lot of hectic in the voices of the actors and the children begin to run and hide because of having fear. Again Meenahs face, but also the faces of her siblings are shown in close-up shots during the run. They reveal stress and struggle, the happiness is gone from their faces.

Another term is the cocked camera angle showing from below one of the older boys stressed and in the background the crucifix, the figure of Madonna and the banners out of order. This shot reveals exactly the chaotic atmosphere.

To sum it up, one can say that already in the first scene of the film “East is East” the main subject and the main problem is shown clearly. The Khan children are caught up between to cultures, the culture of the country they live in, Britain, and the culture of their fathers country, Pakistan. Here the religious part of the family conflict is shown: The children want to take part in the religious traditions of their English environment, but their father doesn't want them to do so. He goes to mosque and his children have to go to mosque (that becomes already clear through their fear to be seen).

Before watching the film

Before we begin to watch the film in class, our teacher wants us to watch only five little sequences. I wrote down the time and place of action (a) and then I guess what could be social relationships and problems (b) in the movie.
Here are my results:

1) Advertising of Enoch Powell (0:49:00-0:49:21)

a) - one old man and a boy distribute flyers
- a Pakistani passes by
- the old man affronts him
- the boy salutes in Arabic and gets a slap in the face by the old man

b) - racial discrimination to Immigrants contra acceptance of immigrants

2) Meenah kicks a football (0:53:43-0:54:20)

a) - Meenah, a girl, kicks a football in a window of the old man and destroys a poster of Enoch Powell
- The old man looks angrily through the torn window and begins rail against Pakistani

b) - racial discrimination

3) Koran lesson (0:14:01-0:14:32)

a) - children of the Khan family don't want to go to mosque, but the father coerces them into doing so
- in the mosque only one of the children prays intensely

b) - problems dealing with traditional actions and interest of the children living in a different environment

4) Asian market (0:48:02-0:48:32)

a) - father buys two Asian huts and two Arabic watches
- they are probably for his children

b) - father wants his children to be dressed traditionally

5) Going to Bradistan (0:29:08-0:31:29)

a) - family makes a trip to Bradford
- children are bored
- father talks about his immigration to England, he thinks about what he has reached
- they arrive at the place name sign for Bradford, but it is sprayed into "Bradistan" (picture)

b) - the immigration becomes mass at one place;
- problems through getthoism