This BAFTA-winning comedy-drama takes a wry look at a Pakistani chip shop owner's efforts to raise his kids amid cultural tensions in 1970s Salford.
For the seven kids of George Khan—proud Pakistani and chip shop owner—life is one long compromise. Tomboy Meenah prefers playing football to wearing a sari, hippie Saleem pretends to be studying engineering when he's really at art school, heart-throb Tariq has got a reputation as a local Casanova, and Sajid hasn’t even been circumcised yet. For George Khan (‘Ghengis’ to his kids), life is an uphill battle to get his family to conform to traditional Pakistani values. But this is Salford in the 1970s: George's English wife Ella is Lancashire born, and his kids have got minds of their own.
Director: Damien O'Donnell
Cast: Om Puri, Linda Bassett, Jordan Routledge
Language: English, Urdu with English subtitles
Northern Youth—Northern Youth is a celebration of northern young identity in cinema. Bradford is one of the UK's youngest cities with a significant portion of its population under 25, and this season champions the bold and blistering spirit of youthful northern characters, actors, film-makers, writers, and mavericks. Punky and poetic, powerful and punchy, this season celebrates northern youth in all its glory.
The season is curated for Bradford 2025 by Dominic Leclerc, the Bradford-born, raised and based director of Sex Education, Skins and Shameless, and the upcoming Bradford-set feature Flesh and Flamingos about queer northern youth. His passion for complex and daring stories about youth drive this rebellious and raw season.
The selections in Northern Youth span several decades, from a '60s British New Wave classic celebrating teenage rebellion, to a provocative contemporary film debut about consent. The stories transport us from the back streets of Salford, to the majestic Yorkshire moors; from the Liverpool of a teenage boy's lyrical imagination, to the underbelly of Nottingham's council estates. The stories are unique and bursting with youthful spirit: from a group of '80s skinheads exploring their collective and individual identity, to a teenage girl in Yorkshire pushing at the realms of her sexuality, from a young northern rebel boldly defying authority, to a group of adolescents navigating their bodies and emotions on their first clubbing holiday. Together, these films celebrate northern youth in all its complexity—championing diversity, the individual experience, and both the frailty and wonder of being on the cusp of adulthood.
This season is part of Bradford: A City of Film, a programme of independent film across the Bradford District. Co-Produced by Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture and National Science and Media Museum with the support of the BFI, awarding funds from the National Lottery.
Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture, British Film Institute and National Lottery logos
BIFA Presents—BIFA (British Independent Film Awards C.I.C.) is an internationally renowned organisation that celebrates, promotes, and supports independent filmmaking and filmmakers in the UK.
Founded in 1998, BIFA (the British Independent Film Awards) has championed the best and most innovative independently funded British filmmaking for over 25 years and will collaborate on select screenings in Pictureville's 2025 programme to showcase this bold and exciting talent.
