The Big Sick: An apt portrayal of Pakistan-US stuck in a culture clash

Pakistani-American comedian Kumail Nanjiani began stand-up comedy in 2009 and quickly rose to fame as one of the funniest comedians in the business. His success with stand-up led to small roles at first, but soon enough he landed his own live-comedy show The Meltdown with comedian Jonah Ray on Comedy Central. It was quickly followed by a starring role on one of the most hilarious Home Box Office (HBO) comedy series, Silicon Valley.

Zoe Kazan and Kumail Nanjiani in The Big Sick (2017). PHOTO: IMDb

Nanjiani is perhaps still best known for his role as the Pakistani software-engineer, Dinesh Chughtai on Silicon Valley. That is most likely going to change with the release of his upcoming film, The Big Sick, which he has co-written with his wife Emily V Gordon, who is starring in it as well.

The film, which opened to rave reviews at the Sundance Film Festival, is actually based on the real-life love story of how Nanjiani met his wife. Photo: Screenshot

The film, which opened to rave reviews at the Sundance Film Festival, is actually based on the real-life love story of how Nanjiani met his wife, Gordon, while he was starting out as an aspiring stand-up comedian. It’s been praised about how deftly and authentically it handles immigrant experiences, falling in love and the culture clash that so many immigrants face while moving to a country like the United States.

Zoe Kazan and Kumail Nanjiani in The Big Sick (2017). PHOTO: IMDb

Judd Apatow, who is responsible for making some of the funniest comedies of the 21^st century, such as Knocked Up, The 40 Year Old Virgin and The Pineapple Express, is the producer of the film. Michael Showalter is the director, while Ray Romano, Holly Hunter, Zoe Kazan and Anupam Kher round up the talented cast.

With everything that has been going on in America’s political climate recently, a culture-clash rom-com may just be the breath of fresh air everyone needs right now. Photo: Screenshot

With everything that has been going on in America’s political climate recently, a culture clash rom-com may just be the breath of fresh air everyone needs right now.

The Big Sick is slated to come out June 23^rd, 2017 in the United States. It currently does not have a confirmed release date in Pakistan.