West Is West (2010 film)

West Is West!
Canadian release poster
Directed by	Andy DeEmmony
Produced by	Leslee Udwin
Written by	Ayub Khan-Din
Starring	Aqib Khan Om Puri Linda Bassett Robert Pugh Raj Bhansali
Music by	Rob Lane Shankar Ehsaan Loy
Cinematography	Peter Robertson
Edited by	Jon Gregory Stephen O'Connell
Production company	BBC Films Assassin Films
Release date	12 September 2010 (2010-09-12) (TIFF) 25 February 2011 (2011-02-25) (United Kingdom)
Running time	103 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Budget	£2.5 million
Box office	£4.9 million

West Is West is a 2010 British comedy-drama film, which is a sequel to the 1999 comedy East Is East. It stars Aqib Khan, Om Puri, Linda Bassett, Ila Arun and Jimi Mistry, is written by Ayub Khan-Din, directed by Andy DeEmmony, and produced by Leslee Udwin for Assassin Films and BBC Films.

The film was first shown on 12 September 2010 at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival. It premiered at the BFI London Film Festival on 19 October 2010, followed by UK and Irish release on 25 February 2011. The first US showing was on 2 November 2010 at the South Asian International Film Festival, followed by several other US festivals. While it was released in Canada on 25 March 2011, it never received a US release.

The film is set in the year 1976, five years after the original film East is East. Little is known about most of the Khan children, except that they seldom communicate with their parents. Tariq is now a hippie (looking like George Harrison) who runs a new age shop with older brother Nazir and has an English girlfriend who is unaware of his true ethnicity, and Maneer is living with his extended family in Pakistan where he is searching for a suitable wife. Sajid, the youngest who no longer wears a parka, is a truant who is constantly bullied due to his Pakistani background, although the headmaster - a former British soldier who had served in the Punjab - is sympathetic and encourages him to embrace his heritage. After Sajid is caught shoplifting, his father George, who has somewhat retained his bullying nature, attacks him at home. When Sajid retaliates by calling him a "dirty Paki bastard," a devastated George states all of his other children in England have become British and he cannot lose Sajid as well, so he decides to take him to Pakistan to meet his extended family and show him that life there is better, though Ella openly disapproves.