When young doctor Yash Pal Suri emigrated to the UK from India with his wife and daughter in 1965 he bought Super-8 film and sound equipment to communicate with his family over the next four decades. The couple were to have two more daughters and it was the youngest, Sandhya, who trained as a film-maker. Charming, fascinating and at times immensely moving, her film raises some profound social questions.

Sandhya Suri gives the Super-8 material and sound recordings historical context by combining it with archival TV footage and contemporary filming; shifts of time and location interweave, bringing out contrasts and similarities in lifestyles. At the centre of the film, and its primary ‘voice’ is the filmmaker’s father. We witness his attempts to integrate into British society, his failed return to his homeland and his coming to terms with events as his daughters make their own choices.

Opening shots of a train passing snowy platforms and houses in northeast England are juxtaposed with scenes of an elderly Indian couple arriving at a community centre in Darlington. Whilst Dr Suri introduces footage of his Egyptian holiday to stony-faced camcorder club members, his wife endures a talk on ‘The Pleasures and Pains of India’ with an emphasis on poverty. A jump-cut to the electrically operated curtains in the couple’s smart suburban house shows the Dr Suri looking out over his tidy garden.

Surrounded by boxes of film reels, Dr. Suri tells of his part in the ‘brain-drain’ from India in the 60s, illustrated by a shot of shipboard fellow-emigrants. In a snowy garden his daughter’s voice, with a strong north-eastern accent, comments on school friends’ treatment, both ‘horrid’ and ‘good’, foreshadowing later events. Lara’s Theme as accompaniment to shots of north-eastern England in winter is one of many subtly humorous touches in a film where music plays a major role.

The earlier speaker at the community centre is echoed in a clip from a BBC programme about Asian immigrants bringing an ‘atmosphere of foreignness’, followed by scenes of Dr Suri mowing his lawn and holidaying in Southport. An Indian wedding contrasts with a children’s party with pop music and birthday cake and nurses performing a country dance. A BBC documentary announcer says one third of England’s doctors come from overseas whilst an unusually frank spokesman admits they provide a ready supply of cheap labour. Darker aspects of racism are reflected in footage of a BNP march and Margaret Thatcher’s remarks about people being ‘swamped’. Dr Suri speaks of petty racism and his humorous response to taunts in the street.

The central section of the film deals with the family’s attempt to resettle in India, where heavy competition and the lack of regulation for doctors works against them. A dream-like sequence of dissolves - Indian shops at night with rickshaws crowding streets and a background of haunting song - introduces the mother’s measured account of what must have been a difficult time. The emptiness of the clinic behind a forest of competitors’ signs and restricted social opportunities for the daughters play their part in the decision to return. ‘Without optimism there is nothing.’ is Dr Suri’s characteristic response. A neon ‘Welcome to Darlington’ sign strung across a dark road brings the episode to a sadly ironic close.

In the final sequence Dr Suri returns to his hospital career and renewed attempts to fit in. Guests dance at his daughter’s Indian-style marriage to an English groom and Dr Suri receives advice on rose growing over the garden fence. When their second daughter emigrates to Australia, old memories combine with regrets to make the loss particularly difficult. Ironically, when the daughter complains on a computer link of long working hours and worse pay Suri advises her to follow the family example of not giving up. If the computer-link scene is moving, however, it is the father’s closing sentence, an echo of the film’s title, that adds a final note of sadness to a remarkable film.