The Evolution of South Asian Women in British Film and TV
From "Bend It Like Beckham" to "Polite Society," Here's How South Asian Women Have Evolved On Screen
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One of the best-known British South Asian films is "East Is East," which premiered in 1999. Set in 1970s Salford, the film follows the interracial Khan family, whose Pakistani father George (Om Puri) and English mother Ella (Linda Bassett) have decidedly different ideals.
While the film mostly focuses on the sons in the family — there's only one daughter in the line-up of seven children — the film's family dynamics reveal a lot about traditional Pakistani expectations of women. From the arranged marriage plot for two of the brothers to the cheeky rebellion of Meenah (Archie Panjabi), "East Is East" is a good representation of women trying to work out what it means to be both British and South Asian. The contrast with the young white British women in the film exemplifies this even further.