MUMBAI: The motion picture distribution company 52 Weeks Entertainment has acquired the Indian distribution rights of Om Puri starrer English movie West is West, a sequel to East is East from the worldwide sales agent Icon Film.
West is West is slated for release in India in April this year. The movie was released in UK on 25 February and had a strong opening. It collected a little over $1.2 million (Rs 55 million ) at the weekend box office with 184 screens.
West is West producer, Leslee Udwin, who also produced East is East, said: "There were two territories in which the choice of distributor was of great importance to me. The UK and India/Pakistan; partly because I know the film will perform superbly in the territories if correctly handled, and partly because the team of actors and crew come from those countries and so I felt a big responsibility there.”
"West is West is the sequel to the internationally acclaimed film East is East, a ground-breaking film which broke cultural barriers around the world,” 52 Week Entertainment’s Suneil Wadha added. “As a strategy, in India the film is set for an April release along with the North America & Canada. The timing of the India release is in keeping with the World Cup and exams time. These kind of films grow with word of mouth for which you would require time.”
West is West is is based on and inspired by autobiographical events, and produced by the same creative team.
The sequel takes the Khan family on a journey from Salford, England to rural Pakistan. West is West is as much the coming of age of 13-year-old Sajid as of his father, 60-year-old George ‘Ghengis’ Khan. George, in a last attempt to make a good Muslim and a good son of him, decides to pack Sajid off to his first wife and family in the Punjab, whom he had abandoned 30 years earlier. In the process the tables are turned on George when he comes face to face with his own transgressions, and realises that it is he himself who has much to learn.
Written by Ayub Khan-Din (BAFTA winner), directed by Andy De Emmony (BAFTA nominated) and produced by Udwin (BAFTA winner), West is West stars Om Puri, Linda Bassett, Jimi Mistry, Emil Marwa, Ila Arun, Lesley Nicoll, Vijay Raaz and introduces Aqib Khan. The music of the film is by Shankar-Eshaan-Loy & Rob lane.
