A new genre of films has emerged on the market. These films are geared towards a very particular crowd and easily fall short of mass appeal. These films deal with second generation Pakistani’s living abroad. What these films lack in content is the inclusion of realistic and honest depictions of Pakistanis. They rather offer portrayals of Pakistanis who have either thrown away their cultural identity in substitute for an English identity or are on the verge of Islamic fanaticism. There are no ‘real’ Pakistani’s in these films.
I have viewed two of these films in the last two weeks. One in my home city and another at Toronto’s International Film Festival. The first was aptly titled ** “My Son The Fanatic” ** , the second was ** “East is East” ** . Both were UK productions. Both contained an abundance of Indian’s actors playing Pakistani’s, including well known Indian actor * Om Puri * playing the father in both films.
The first film, “My Son the Fanatic”, brought the audience into the world of a Pakistani taxi driver in the UK, who is fond of prostitutes, whisky and jazz music and shuns his son’s recent ‘fanatic’ love for Islam, while neglecting his wife in substitute for rendezvous with a local hooker. The father wishes his son would put down his Qur’an and marry his ex-British girl-friend, listen to music loud and revel in the pleasures of alcohol. ** How many Pakistanis do you know that engage in such behavior? **
In East is East roles reversed. With Om Puri playing the relatively conservative father, forcing his children into arranged marriages despite the fact that his children would rather eat bacon, sleep with British women, have the occasional beer, engage in homosexual liaisons, participate in Christian parades and on occasion cry out “I’m not a Paki”. ** How many Pakistanis do you know that fit this description? **
East is East further insults Pakistanis by relaying anything Islamic with negative connotations. From the act of reading the Qur’an, to the declaration of faith, to circumcision, to the veiling of women, to the prohibitions on alcohol, pig and relations prior to marriage - East is East is quick to condemn Islam portraying it as a religion which teaches repression better than it can teach love and compassion.
East is East was definitely the more insulting of the two (not to say that the first didn’t insult). East is East almost seemed to be fashioned into a weapon for the explicit purpose of ridiculing Pakistanis. The film was set in 1971 during the war between East and West Pakistan. Om Puri’s character left ‘British India’ prior to the creation of Pakistan, yet identified strongly with Pakistan. His character married a British women in London and lived in a predominantly white neighborhood. It made little sense that such a person would identify strongly with Pakistan and its cultural values, after all he left prior to the creation of the country he so loves.
The makers of both films have missed the point. They’ve missed the essence of confusion in the minds of Pakistanis living and born abroad. That confusion being the attempt to merge east with west. East is not East for most Pakistanis born outside of their parents homeland. For most East and West have been merged and its within that mixture where some of the confusion to find a cultural identity arises.
I can’t help but wonder what the purpose of these films is. They obviously don’t have any selling potential. They are small budget movies posing as art films. They are popping up in larger and larger quantities. I’m still waiting for a film which I can watch and say, “yes, I can relate to some of these characters, that is what its like being Pakistani, born and raised abroad.” Till than I guess I’ll have to continue to watch this new genre of so-called ‘art’ films, which terribly distort reality.
Achtung
[This message has been edited by Achtung (edited September 15, 1999).]