George Khan

George is still tied to his homeland and chooses to remain an outsider in the UK

Zahir “George” Khan is the main character of the film East is East directed by Damien O'Donnell. He was born and raised in Pakistan. In 1937, he arrived in England for work. Nine years later he married Ella, with whom he has seven children – six boys and a girl. 

Although he has been living in England for 34 years, George is still an outsider who has never tried to fit in. He speaks English incorrectly: “Why he wants to do this? (...) I no understand. Maybe I should have take family to Bradford long time ago. More Pakistani there, see? No this problem.” (00:10:34-00:10:56). For him, any departure from the traditional Pakistani way of life is a problem, even if he is not in Pakistan anymore, and his children are born in England, and are only half Pakistani. 

George does not make any concession, even when it comes to keeping up appearances. For instance,he tells the town priest “Allah go with you” (00:12:08), not realizing, or not caring that it would offend the priest. However, we can see Goerge watch the Christian procession with a pleased expression on his face. This shows that he does not oppose the Christian religion in general, just his own family taking part in it. Since he automatically rejects any values which are not those of his native country, he can be considered an outsid...