My Son the Fanatic 1997: Movie and film review from Answers.com

Director: Udayan Prasad
AMG Rating:
Genre: Comedy
Movie Type: Romantic Comedy, Urban Drama
Themes: Fathers and Sons, Interracial/Cross-Cultural Romance, Culture Clash
Main Cast: Gopi Desai, Rachel Griffiths, Akbar Kurtha, Om Puri
Release Year: 1997
Country: UK
Run Time: 86 minutes
MPAA Rating: R

Plot

In a small city in the English midlands, a Pakistani immigrant named Parvez (Om Puri) works long hours driving a cab to provide modest comfort for his disapproving wife, Minoo (Gopi Desai), and better opportunities for his collegiate son, Farid (Akbar Kurtha). When Farid breaks off his engagement with the daughter of the city's white police commissioner, drops out of university and joins a cell of Islamic fundamentalists, Parvez must bide his time and hope that his son will come around to his own liberal, assimilationist views. Meanwhile, a monied German entrepreneur named Schitz (Stellan Skarsgard) arrives in town on business and retains Parvez's services as not only driver but navigator of the city's steamy underbelly. Parvez recommends the services of Bettina (Rachel Griffiths), a local hooker with whom he has struck up an unlikely but warm friendship. Schitz's callous treatment of both of his new employees soon, however, sickens Parvez. After his son convinces Parvez to let a visiting holy man move into the family home, the conflicts between Parvez's nocturnal activities and his home life escalate. The screenplay was adapted by Hanif Kureishi from his own short story, which appears in the collection Love in a Blue Time. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide

Review

Although it finds a lot of humor in the collision between immigrant and native, liberal and fundamentalist, My Son the Fanatic is actually a bittersweet drama that resists easy resolution of its many well-delineated conflicts. Director Udayan Prasad and cinematographer Alan Almond deftly juggle characters and locales as they explore both the facades and the realities of an average Western city. Om Puri is terrific as Parvez, the Pakistani cab driver whose few pleasures in life include listening to old jazz records and watching his son grow up. Rachel Griffiths is similarly spot-on as Bettina, the prostitute who longs for new experiences and sees more than just a Paki cabbie in Parvez's grizzled but kindly countenance. Akbar Kurtha and Gopi Desai don't get as much screen time, or generate as much sympathy, as Parvez's dutiful wife and fundamentalist son, but even when Hanif Kureishi's script stacks the deck against these characters it never wholly dismisses their viewpoints and motivations; the film may poke fun at the ironies of an anti-capitalist Islamic holy man who watches cartoons, runs up Parvez's utility bills, and wants to immigrate to the "corrupt" United Kingdom, but Schitz (Stellan Skarsgard), the wanton, casually racist German businessman, helps portray the equally ugly extremes of Western liberalism. Fizzy (Harish Patel), Parvez's wealthy but judgmental friend, likewise represents the hypocrisy of immigrants whose loyalties are divided between profit and propriety. Posing more questions than it answers, this multifaceted film explores writer Kureishi's perennial themes with more nuance and depth than any before. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide

Cast

Om Puri - Parvez; Stellan Skarsgård - Schitz; Gopi Desai - Minoo; Rachel Griffiths - Bettina; Akbar Kurtha - Farid; Bhasker Patel - The Maulvi; Harish Patel - Fizzy; Sarah Jane Potts - Madelaine

Credit

Colin Blaymires - Art Director, Sara Kane - Art Director, Simone Ireland - Casting, Vanessa Pereira - Casting, Mary-Jane Reyner - Costume Designer, Nick Laws - First Assistant Director, Udayan Prasad - Director, David Gamble - Editor, George Faber - Executive Producer, Anita Overland - Line Producer, Stephen Warbeck - Composer (Music Score), Charlie Gillett - Musical Direction/Supervision, Grenville Horner - Production Designer, Alan Almond - Cinematographer, Chris Curling - Producer, Adrian Rhodes - Sound/Sound Designer, Albert Bailey - Sound/Sound Designer, Hanif Kureishi - Screenwriter

My Son the Fanatic
Directed by	Udayan Prasad
Produced by	Chris Curling
Written by	Hanif Kureishi
Starring	Om Puri Rachel Griffiths Akbar Kurtha Stellan Skarsgård
Music by	Stephen Warbeck
Cinematography	Alan Almond
Running time	87 min.
Language	English

My Son the Fanatic

Directed by

Udayan Prasad

Produced by

Chris Curling

Written by

Hanif Kureishi

Starring

Om Puri
Rachel Griffiths
Akbar Kurtha
Stellan Skarsgård

Music by

Stephen Warbeck

Cinematography

Alan Almond

Running time

87 min.

Language

English

Plot

One of the most revealing insights into Britain’s recent social history comes early in “My Son the Fanatic,” Hanif Kureishi’s tender and darkly prescient 1997 film. It’s morning in an unnamed city in northern England, and Parvez, a secular Pakistani immigrant taxi driver brilliantly portrayed by Om Puri, watches Farid, his increasingly devout college-age son, sell his electric guitar. “Where is that going?” Parvez asks Farid as the buyer drives off. “You used to love making a terrible noise with these instruments!” Farid, played by Akbar Kurtha, looks at his father with irritation. “You always said there were more important things than ‘Stairway to Heaven,’ ” he says impatiently in his thick northern English accent. “You couldn’t have been more right.”^[1]

Pakistani taxi-driver Parvez and prostitute Bettina find themselves trapped in the middle when Islamic fundamentalists decide to clean up their local town.

Cast

Om Puri as Parvez: an alcoholic Pakistani taxi-driver who after living in the UK for many years is still working hard to make a living in his taxi whilst others that migrated with him have made their wealth.

Rachel Griffiths as Bettina/Sandra: a prostitute who goes by the name of Bettina whom has become friends with local Taxi man Parvez. Her real name is Sandra.

Akbar Kurtha as Farid: Parvez's grown-up son and is to be engaged to the local Chief Inspector's daughter Madeleine Fingerhut; upon discovering that his future father-in-law detests his family he turns to Islam and is radicalised.

Stellan Skarsgård as Schitz: a German businessman who makes use of Parvez and Bettina's professional services.

Gopi Desai as Minoo: Parvez's wife and mother of their son Farid.

Harish Patel as Fizzy

Sarah-Jane Potts as Madeleine Fingerhut

Geoffrey Bateman as Chief Inspector Fingerhut

Judi Jones as Mrs Fingerhut

Nominations

2000, Independent Spirit Award: best foreign film: Udayan Prasad

1998, British Independent Film Festival: best screenplay: Hanif Kureishi, best British actress: Rachel Griffiths

1998, Brussels International Film Festival, best European feature: Udayan Prasad

1997, Dinard Festival of British Cinema: Udayan Prasad

My Son the Fanatic