Along the way, pretensions of music, theater and New Age scenesters are skewered.īeyond these satirical digs, “Buddha” lets its characters grow in surprising, even poignant directions.

Other subplots involve the bizarre arranged marriage foisted upon Karim’s friend Jamila, henpecked Uncle Ted, and various loyalties forged or abandoned along each leading character’s path. Charlie’s failed grab at glam-rock stardom puts him in a prime position later to dive into the exploding punk music scene.

His parallel number is erstwhile school chum Charlie (Steven Mackintosh), Eva’s only child. Karim drifts about, eventually finding fledgling success as a stage actor. When latter liaison goes overground, Karim’s devastated mother retreats with her younger son he joins dad and Mrs. “Masquerading as a Buddhist,” dad delivers banal happy-talk aphorisms to upscale patrons at a premium, while secretly carrying on with wealthy acolyte Eva Kay (Susan Fleetwood). At start, civil-servant pa Haroon (Roshan Seth) is gleefully exploiting the vogue for “Eastern philosophies” he knows nothing about. Story centers on young Karim Amir (Naveen Andrews), a South London suburban teen born to Indian father and English ma. But the kaleidoscopic narrative keeps attention riveted. As “Buddha” spans the Me Decade from hangover hippiedom to dawn of the Thatcher Era, it too sports glib aspects and a somewhat chill heart. overkill, while his directorial debut, “London Kills Me,” was an unqualified disaster. Pic reps a qualified comeback triumph for co-adaptor Kureishi, whose “Sammy and Rosie Get Laid” skirted smug p.c. (And as evidence of the envelope pushed by “Buddha,” note this series did provoke some public outrage during BBC airing, whereas “Tales” coaxed nary a whimper.) If nothing else, “Buddha’s” uncertain fate highlights the awesome gulf between viewer tolerance/politics on each side of the Atlantic. Pic’s specialized, hipper-than-thou appeal makes sale to commercial cablecasters look problematic as well. broadcast route for this considerably gamier entity seems roadblocked. And given PBS’ recent slink away from co-producing a sequel to the highly rated but conservative-bashed “Tales,” most obvious U.S.

With complex narrative (from Kureishi’s novel) already packed too tight at four hours, editing to viable theatrical length seems impossible.

The buddha of suburbia novel