Om Puri - Inflexible Patriarch

Following the birth of his second child, musician Don Henley penned the reflective ballad “Annabel” in her honor. He warns his daughter of life’s hazards but sagely acknowledges, “I know, in the end, you’ll be who you will be.” The two patriarchs portrayed by Om Puri in “My Son the Fanatic” (1997) and “East is East” (1999) lack the wisdom, and flexibility, to accept who their children have become. Although approaching fatherhood from widely divergent perspectives, both characters turn violent when their sons attempt to forge their own paths in life. 

The lead actor is not the only similarity between these films. British cinema enjoyed a blast of critical and commercial success in the 1990s. One reason is the entrance of first-generation Britons of Southeast Asian ancestry into the cultural mix. “My Son the Fanatic” was written by Hanif Kureishi, son of a Pakistani father and English mother. Ayub Khan-Din, the writer of “East is East”, was also born into a family with a Pakistani father and an English mother, but with fewer financial resources. 

“East is East” is the more autobiographical film and closely follows Khan-Din's own life story. His avatar in the film is twelve-year-old Sajid (Jordan Routledge), who reacts to his family’s dysfunction by wearing a parka nonstop for over a year. One of the film’s smartest, and funniest, moments is a point-of-view shot from Sajid’s perspective, with the frame flanked by the faux fur of Sajid’s parka hood. 

George (Om Puri), seated on the right, in a meeting with community members to choose wives for his sons.

While the promos and reviews for “East is East” emphasize the humor in the film, there is a scene of harrowing violence between husband and wife that should give viewers pause. The relationship between George (Om Puri) and his wife Ella (Linda Bassett) is one of constant subterfuge. Ella encourages their children to embrace the freedom of Western culture, and her Catholic faith, while George is fixated on his standing within the Muslim community. When George tries to marry off his two eldest boys against their will, Ella defends her children’s right to choose. The result is a scene in which George first slaps her, then starts in with his fists. The sound of Ella’s flesh being pummeled is heard while the camera pans away from the disturbing images. 

Ella opts to stay in the marriage. She prefers not to endure the fate of her son Tariq (Jimi Mistry), who walks away from an arranged marriage and is subsequently declared dead by his father. The hypocrisy of George demanding that his sons marry women within the Pakistani community while he himself has married outside that community is not lost on the family or the viewer. 

In “East in East”, there is little physical tenderness between the family members. They communicate with not-so-playful slaps to the head. Poor Sajid is a particular target. In “My Son the Fanatic”, the jabs are verbal. Minoo (Gopi Desai) is brutally honest with her husband, Parvez (Puri), the taxi driver.  She calls him a useful idiot and tells him he is too easily made happy, hence his lack of financial success.  

Parvez has shed the conservatism of his upbringing, however, and enjoys the relative comforts of his new life. He unashamedly consumes alcohol and is a connoisseur of blues and jazz. His dreams of social mobility have been transferred onto his son, Farid (Akbar Kurtha). Farid becomes engaged to an English college classmate, an arrangement that thrills his dad. A meeting with the prospective in-laws is a disaster, however, as Farid’s race and socio-economic class are anathema to the British blue bloods. 

Parvez (Puri) and Farid (Akbar Kurtha) before the affectionate father-son relationship collapses.

Assimilation is a major theme in both films and Farid, after ending his engagement, becomes a vehement critic of Western society. He rejects his father’s outlook and states that “our cultures cannot be mixed”. When Farid discovers his father is having an affair with Bettina, a local prostitute (Rachel Griffiths), his outrage is uncontainable. He violently attacks Bettina in the street.  

This leads to the film’s pivotal scene that demonstrates the complete rupture in the father-son relationship. Parvez begins the conversation by stating “there is nothing of God in spitting on a woman’s face.” Farid counters by calling his father a pimp and the insult is more than Parvez can bear. He physically attacks the child he has previously called “the best of life”. 

First Farid deserts his father, then Minoo. The film ends with Parvez in an empty house, listening to the song “Please Send Me Someone to Love”. The lyric “Hate will put the world in a flame. What a shame.” is heard clearly over the final images. I appreciate this choice because it references the personal, political, and religious pressures that animate the characters in both films. “East is East” and “My Son the Fanatic” show that the immigrant experience can place additional stresses on the already complex relationship between father and son. 

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