Bend It Like Beckham Director: Gurinder Chadha Country: UK Year: 2002

A Letter from Director Gurinder Chadha >>>

CAST:
Parminder K. Nagra, Keira Knightley, Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, Anupam Kher, Archie Panjabi, Juliet Stevenson

Writer-director Gurinder Chadha's Bend It Like Beckham was one of my favourites from this year's festival. Chadha captures the skill, speed and indomitable spirit of a London women's amateur soccer team as she simultaneously portrays the complex relationships within a Punjabi family. This interplay between family and soccer provides the background for Jess Bharma's (the glowing Parminder K. Nagra) awakening as she comes into her own as a woman and athlete. Jess is talented enough at the game to gain entry into a real women's team, the Hounslow Harriers. Jess' family disapproves of the game: the boys, the clothing, the time away from home and her parents. However, Jess is unable to give up her team and sport; soccer fills her with passion and pride and thus she begins a double life of athlete and traditional Indian daughter.

The most inspiring scenes for me in the film were the scenes of Jess and her team on the soccer field. In a question and answer session after the film, Chadha revealed that the screen team had actually trained and practiced like a real team and that by the end of filming, had developed quite an expertise. This skill is keenly apparent onscreen, and Jess and her teammates, namely Jules (Keira Knightley) light up the screen with their energy and talent. A funky soundtrack of bhangra, pop and soul provides an edgy backbeat to the soccer matches and family drama, adding to the power of the film.

Jess' family provides much of the comic relief in the film. The family members, except for the dad (played charmingly by Bollywood star, Anupam Kher), are caricatures and ham up their roles accordingly. Jess' mother is a typical Punjabi housewife, who is after Jess to make chapathis and aloo gobi, horrified with her daughter's obsession with the "bald man" immortalized in posters all over Jess' walls. The sister (Archie Panjabi) is consumed with planning the ultimate wedding to her longtime beau, Titoo, and cannot comprehend her sister's lack of interest in the sumptuous details of bridal preparations. Joe (Jonathan Rhys-Meyers), Jess' soccer coach, provides a romantic interest for Jess, and contributes to her emergence as a strong, independent woman.

The audience is drawn into Chadha's film as we witness Jess fight for her dreams to come true. In Jess, younger South Asian female audiences will find a role model that previously did not exist: the Indian girl athlete - strong, beautiful and unabashedly sporty! In her portrayal of Jess, Nagra does not sacrifice her femininity or girlish charm; instead, she incorporates these qualities with persistence and dogged determination to achieve her goals.

I highly recommend this film - it's a fun, fresh fantasy ride that leaves you energized and ready to tackle a challenge. But, most important, it's a soulful story of a woman and a family facing cross-cultural dilemmas that are common to all second-generation families. Bend It Like Beckham goes straight to the heart.