Cultural difference is an area which Indian director Mira (Monsoon Wedding) Nair loves to explore. Perhaps no surprise then that she should be chosen to adapt Jhumpa Lahiri's Pulitzer prize-winning novel about a young Indian couple learning to cope with life in an alien world, in this case the United States. At least it's particularly alien to one of them.

This is an arranged marriage between young girl Ashima (Tabu) and an intelligent young man Ashoke Ganguli (Irfan Khan) who has already set down his roots in the States and comes home to find a wife that he will then take back.

It's therefore a learning curve for both of them, but particularly for young girl Ashima who has to get used to a completely different country with different ways and different kinds of food available as well as getting used to her new husband and his work patterns.

Before long though, Ashima and Ashoke have started a family and the kids naturally grow up in the only world they know, that of American culture. This brings its own form of confrontation since young son Gogol and young daughter Sonia are typical examples of children who will grow up without the Indian ways of their parents.

This is an involving family drama spanning two decades, which will be fascinating for Indian audiences since it highlights the struggles faced in growing up in a different country, the desire to hang on to traditions, the struggle to make a living and to ensure relationships don't get frayed in the process and of course, the bid to pass on traditions to your children. It's enlightening but perhaps is only likely to be of particular interest to Mira Nair fans and those who may have faced similar challenges.