When Imran Perretta was young, he was abruptly pulled by police into a van for questioning. That experience, as well as the death of his mother, inspired him to make Ish, a coming-of-age tale set amongst the British Muslim community. He talks about trauma, designing toilets and making Luton look magnificent<\/p>\n
Imran Perretta always knew that the title of his debut feature film would be \u201cIsh\u201d \u2013 short for Ishmail, the name of the 12-year-old boy from Luton at the heart of his story. Only later did people point out the similarity to other coming-of-age films with three letters in the title: Kes by Ken Loach, and Satyajit Ray\u2019s Apu trilogy. Now, as the reviews trickle in, the comparisons to Kes and Apu keep coming. Like them, Ish is a poetic film that grabs you by the heart and pulls you into a child\u2019s perspective on the world.<\/p>\n
The response has been lovely, says Perretta, and a relief. \u201cIt\u2019s nice that people have compared Ish to those films rather than Kidulthood. I did worry about that.\u201d Why, because it features kids speaking in slang and getting into scrapes? He nods. \u201cI always say that I don\u2019t read reviews, but of course I\u2019ve read every single one. I can\u2019t help myself. And we\u2019ve been really lucky; the reviews have been amazing. A couple have been middling. Then you read them, and the subtext is: \u2018I thought it was going to be like Kidulthood.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/4d70f2873195b9e38a0f3d4ba21dd25331799590\/0_0_4550_3642\/master\/4550.jpg?width=140&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=349668b2583c7f590ce0776426c0aeca\" "\\"\u2018It")
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