IT’S been more than a decade since culture clash comedy East is East first hit cinemas screens in Britain.
With its finely balanced mix of comedy and melodrama, it proved a hit with both critics and audiences alike.
West is West is the sequel to that multi-award winning Brit flick and although it has taken its time to arrive, it feels right that we should return to the story of the dysfunctional but loveable Khan family after the first film ended on a somewhat bitter note.
The film picks up six years after the events of the first and Sajid, (now 15 and minus his Parka), is the only sibling still left living at the family’s cramped terraced house in Salford.
Taunted by racist bullies at school, he spends most of the time playing truant, shoplifting or anything to avoid having his head shoved down a toilet.
But when he is caught red-handed by the police, his tyrannical father George (a role again reprised by Om Puri) drags him to Pakistan to learn about his cultural heritage and how to be a good Muslim.
Unfortunately, the family he left behind when he moved to England are not exactly pleased to see George after a 30 year absence.
As well as continuing his struggle to marry off son Maneer, he is compelled to stick around a while longer and make amends with his estranged wife and children – a decision which wife number two Ella (Linda Bassett) isn’t too thrilled about.
West is West is very much a coming of age story, with the teenage Sajid discovering his roots and struggling to come to terms with an ethnic background he fails to relate to at home.
At the same time it is a story which sees the fiercely Pakistani George face his personal and cultural demons and discover he himself doesn't quite live up to the high expectations he has for his own children.
The screenplay is again written by Ayub Khan Din and is based on his own trip to the sub-continent as a child.
There are some fun moments when Sajid arrives for the first time in Pakistan - looking for the toilet and being directed to a field and checking his genitals for the early signs of mosquito-borne elephantitis.
But by the time our young fish out of water is learning wise words from a local Sufi master, who looks as if he may have wandered off the set of the new Harry Potter movie, the film begins to flag and so does your attention.
While East is East worked because of the strength of its story and characters, the sequel lacks the same momentum and it fails to make the same emotional impact.
This is partly because one of the original’s most likeable character Ella is absent for a large chunk of the story.
Only when she arrives in Pakistan with her earthy best friend Auntie Annie to straighten out her wayward husband and bring her son home does the film pick up again.
Nevertheless, the characters are so well drawn it’s hard not to feel for them and they consistently ring true even if the plot doesn’t at times.
Puri again steals every scene with his sympathetic portrayal of a frustrated man caught between two worlds and Aqib Khan is perfectly cast as the moody teenage Sajid.
West is West is a gentler film than East is East and feels like a satisfying conclusion to the story.
However, with a third film apparently planned, this may not be the last we see of the Khan family.
West is West screened at the London Film Festival and is released in cinemas nationwide in February.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here