Hanif Kureishi and Emma Rice have adapted his 1990, but set in the 1970s novel for the stage.  It is about a boy Karim Amir (Dee Ahluwalia) growing up in an outer London suburb with a white mother Margaret (Katy Owen) and a Pakistani father Haroon (Ankur Bahl).  Some of it is autobiographical but there have been protests from Kureishi’s relatives at the more humble representation of his historical family.  

It is inevitable that when Emma Rice is at the director’s helm that there will be quite a lot of silliness and you may guess I am not a devotee.  On the other hand, running at just short of three hours, some light relief is necessary. 

The lead actor Dee Ahluwalia as Karim Amir is almost never off stage and is a real find as a handsome young Asian actor with flowing locks, a great stage presence and a charismatic personality.  It is his father Haroon who is the Buddha of the title whose yoga class attracts the residents of Bromley. Haroon has been discovered by Eva (Lucy Thackeray) a white 1970s middle-aged Flower Child with whom he has a passionate and long lasting affair.  The loser in this family is Karim’s mother Margaret whose life is a drudge and full of laundry and housework.   I really admired Ankur Bali’s head stand.