A British Asian film opening in 450 screens across the country this friday (12th April 2002). A day that will be marked in the history of development of asian film making in the west. In the days, when Bollywood is making its mark on the world scene, our own home grown talent is making its presence felt in a big way. Gurinder Chadha made her mark on the mainstream British film scene with her first feature length - Bhaji On The Beach. It was one of the first British Asian films to be seen in the mainstream - long before the East Is East phenomenon.
Gurinder Chadha was seen at the Asian Women's Film Festival 2001 where the plans for Bend It Like Beckham were made public. This was reported on this website last year.
The two main female characters appeared at the Network East Late show on the BBC. The mother of the young girl who dreams of becoming a professional footballer is not that much older than the main lead, but she persevered to get this role in the film and succeeded. Parminder Nagra who plays the young girl had training by a professional football coach, who comes from the Brazilian school of football where they believe in 'football with flair' and style. She developed her passion for the game only while working on this film and is now an avid football supporter. Parminder said that she met the greatest football legend in this country - David Beckham who was incidentally due to appear in the film, but could not due to scheduling issues. Beckham was invited to a special viewing of the film with the cast and the director and he made some favourable comments about the film and the main character. Along with David, the film was watched by Victoria Beckham and Gary Neville.
We wish Gurinder and the whole team of BILB a avery successful run and may this encourage more British Asians into the industry.
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