"I grew up in an environment where my family wanted me to be Indian while I was inclined to adopt a British way of life. So I’ve experienced the dilemma faced by thousands of Asians born in the West. When I decided to make a film, the issue which was closet to my heart came first in mind," says Chadha.

Bhaji On The Beach was a riveting fusion film from the word go. The incongruously dressed Asian women herded to the Blackpool beach by a community leader drew two hours of non-stop mirth. There was a battered wife who during the trip made up her mind to kick out her husband; a romantic teenaged couple, a grandmother who talked about the virtues of chastity, godliness and respect for elders and other Asian stereotypes.

The film won numerous awards and was nominated for the BAFTA award for the Best British Film of 1994. Chadha won the prestigious Evening Standard British Film Award’ for the Best Newcomer to British cinema. For a film which had non-descript casting, it did exceedingly well not just among the British-Asians, but also among British cine-goers.

Buoyed by the success of the film, Chadha made another film, but this time she got more ambitious and launched What’s Cooking?, which did not have a multicultural theme but was aimed at the western audience.

The film was a critical success and won the Best Director Award from the London Film Critics Association. It received the Best Script Award from the prestigious Sundance Institute Writer’s Laboratory, was voted as the joint audience winner in the New York Film Critics Awards and the best film at the 2001 Birmingham Film Festival.

However, though critically acclaimed, What’s Cooking? was a commercial disaster. "The mistake I made was to shoot the film in America. I feel my way of looking at things is different from American and British directors," says Chadha.

Which explains why she has now gone back to her first love — speaking about the cultural isolation of British-Asians which is resulting in break-up of families and other serious emotional problems.

Her new film, curiously titled Bend It Like Beckham, revolves around a young Indian girl Jesse who dreams of becoming a sports person like English soccer team star, David Beckham. She dreams of playing football like him and with him. Threatening her dreams is her mother, who wants her to follow the straight and narrow path by getting married and settling down to a less adventurous existence.

Role model

The title of the film is derived from the famous Beckham free kick which curls into the goal and has fetched his club and country many titles. For 18-year-old Jesse, Beckham is the ultimate role model, both personally and professionally. Being born and brought-up in a traditional Punjabi expatriate family, no one approves of her love for this ‘manly’ game. No one, except her father, played brilliantly by Anupam Kher.

"I lost my father very recently. He was exactly like the character played by Anupam Kher. My dad always took my side even if I was wrong. I wanted to create a character who would bring out the deep bond of love between a father and a daughter," says Chadha.

Apart from Anupam Kher, the film has newcomer Parminder Nagra in the lead role and boasts of a crew that largely comprises stage and TV artistes from Britain. It comes at a time when football fever is high after the exciting World Cup in Japan and South Korea. Gurinder readily agrees that she decided the release date with the Cup in mind.

"Football is like religion in England and with the World Cup coming names like Beckham, Shearer and Cole will acquire the status of demi-gods. I wanted to cash in on this hysteria which sweeps both British and Asian fans," says Chadha.

Already, the film has generated a great amount of interest among cinegoers with Daily Telegraph calling it the next best movie after the Bridget Jones Diary.

Another unique feature is that many relatives of Chadha have done cameos in the film. Explains the filmmaker, "it is very difficult to find extras in England, so I asked my aunts and uncles to play the roles of members of an extended Punjabi family. The whole thing turned out to be one big family picnic of sorts. We thoroughly enjoyed it."

Though films made by Asians have been fairly successful abroad, they seldom create ripples at the box-office in India. That, says Chadha, "is primarily Indians living abroad have common problems, common aspirations, common jokes and a kind of a common culture and language. But mainstream Indians in India cannot relate to these. But now with the people travelling more frequently all these things are changing and even Indians are supporting such kind of films."

Being an Indian settled in England does not mean that Chadha will only do films concerning Asians marginalised in western cultures. She is already discussing a Mumbai kind of a potboiler with a Hollywood studio to be made in English.

But, as of now, like Mira Nair, she is happy being labelled as the mascot of Punjabis in England and in Bend It Like Beckham she very meticulously mirrors the joys and depressions of the community.

From the look of things, it appears it is likely to do what Monsoon Wedding did for Mira Nair — transform Gurinder Chadha from a chronicler of marginalised Indians into a global filmmaker.

— Newsmen Features