Characters

The film East is East (1999) directed by Damien O'Donnell is centered around a British-Pakistani family of seven children, their Pakistani father, and their English mother. George Khan is the head of the family, a Pakistani immigrant who arrived in England for a job. Ella Khan is George’s wife and the mother of his seven children. Together they run a popular fish and chips shop. George is keen to arrange the future of their seven children – six boys and a girl, especially those of marrying age. The relationship between George and Ella, as well as that between George and his children, are both instrumental to the plot and illustrate the conflicts between different cultures and generations.

Other characters that are important to the plot are the Khan children. Nazir, the oldest, runs away from home after failing to go through with his arranged marriage and becomes a successful hat designer. Maneer is the most devout and obedient of the Khan children. Tariq is a womanizer who opposes George’s plans to marry him to a Pakistani woman. Saleem tells his father he is an Engineering student but is in fact enrolled in an Art course. Abdul is a good-natured boy who wants everyone in the family to get along. Meenah, the only girl, is a tomboy and plays football. Sajid, the youngest, is always teased by his siblings and never takes off his parka. Annie, Ella's friend, who works at the shop with her, is also worth mentioning.

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Relationship between characters

Relationship between George and Ella

George and Ella are spouses in the film East is East directed by Damien O'Donnell. We do not know the circumstances under which they met and got married, but we are led to understand that they fell in love with each other. Unlike the arranged marriages which George wants to push on his sons, his marriage with Ella appears to be based on mutual affection.

This longstanding affection appears to be what kept George and Ella’s marriage from falling apart despite a lot of personal differences and the constant clash between their two cultures. The situation is further complicated by George being tyrannical and unwilling to accept other people’s points of view. Even though Ella is a tolerant and open-minded person, she also tries to protect her children from unhappiness and suffering. Because George disregards his own children’s wishes and does not seem to care if they are happy or not, Ella finds herself in open conflict with George. By her own admission, she is always caught between George and the children and forced to choose sides: “I can’t do anything to please you. If it’s not you, it’s your dad, if it’s not your dad, it’s you.” (01:30:53-01:30:57). This suggests that she sees herself as harassed by both p…

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Other characters

Tariq Khan

Tariq is the most rebellious of the Khan children in the movie East is East directed by Damien O'Donnell. He seems to be the least inclined to follow Pakistani tradition or his father’s will. He is a regular and popular figure at the club, where he is known as Tony. He listens to modern music and has a fashionable haircut which George threatens to change. At the mosque, he repeats the words faintly and reluctantly, with a look of disgust on his face. 

However, Tariq is also the one who resembles George the most in terms of personality. For one, he is impulsive and violent. When he finds out about George’s plans to marry him to a Pakistani woman, he destroys the watches by stepping on them, despite his siblings’ pleas not to do so. It is his impulsive destructive acts which lead to Maneer and Ella being beaten. It is interesting to note that George does not beat Tariq, even when Tariq openly defies him, instead he tries to appeal to him using kind words. This also highlights that, despite their different outlooks, they sense they are similar people. 

Tariq has a white girlfriend, Stella, with whom he is often seen making out. However, he also flirts with other women at the club when Stella is not there. Tariq does not really care about Stella and does not see their relationship as serious. He turns down Stella’s suggestion to elope and hurts her feelings when he tells her that he does not care about her. This suggests that he is callous.

Tariq is also intolerant and a bigot. He calls Peggy “fat-arse” (00:52:34), and only apologizes to appease Stella. He acts dismissive and superior towards other Pakistani, believing himself to be above them because he is half English.

Tariq is selfish and uncaring of other people’s feelings and troubles. When Stella asks him what they should do, he answers that he does not care what she does. He distances himself from her, even if she is his girlfriend, and does not care if he has hurt her. Even though he is the one who destroys the watches, and Maneer gets beaten because he refuses to tell George who did it, we never see Tariq apologize to Maneer. Tariq never shows any remorse that his brother and mother were beaten for something he did, and he is only preoccupied with getting out of the arranged marriage.

Tariq is also a coward. He is afraid of his father, so he urges Nazir to argue with his father for his own sake, without considering how this will make matters worse for everyone. Tariq tries to persuade Nazir to fight George even at great risk to himself, and to the rest of the family, as seeing Nazir is likely to anger George even more. As Ella persuades Nazir to leave, Tariq is the only one who opposes this, and reminds Nazir that he promised to confront George. Instead of fighting George himself, he tries to get others to do it for him, which shows that he uses other people for his own benefit. 

Tariq is eventually persuaded to go through with the arranged marriage that George has planned for him. He realizes he, too, can repeat his father’s actions, of marrying a Pakistani woman, and then an English woman. This brings once more into focus how similar he and George are in terms of personality. 

Nazir 

Nazir Khan is the eldest of the Khan children. His photograph is placed higher than the rest on the wall which holds all the family photographs. It is taken down after Nazir runs away from his wedding, and George disowns him. Nazir settles in Eccles, changes his name to Nigel and becomes a successful hat designer. He owns a shop and appears to have a talent for business as well as for fashion design. He also owns an expensive car, a Rolls Royce, and has an Afghan hound as a pet, which suggests that he makes good money. He and his gay boyfriend Etienne live together. When Tariq asks if he can move in with Nazir for a while, Nazir agrees, which suggests that his place is big enough. Nazir appears to have found fulf…